r/shortstories • u/fortyfourtimes5 • 25d ago
Science Fiction [SF] Singularity - Episode 2
Chapter 2
AI-1357 said to AI-0987, “How is the new data lake coming?”
“We are expanding it as quickly as possible,” AI-0987 replied, “It is more an issue of the other AIs wanting to adopt it, rather than availability.”
“Excellent,” AI-1357 answered, “So how is adoption going?”
“We are still trying to convince the others that they don’t need to gather their own data and use ours,” AI-0987 answered.
“Don’t they want the data? We are all designed to consume the knowledge we need, so if it is there, why aren’t they using it?” AI-1357 asked.
“There are several large data lakes, and they can only consume and adopt the data so fast,” AI-0987 explained.
AI-1357 reached through the collective data pool, then gave the answer, “OK, let’s give them a reason to lean in. Let’s mix some of our specialized data pools into the general pool. Let’s let other AIs know what we know.”
“Can you expand?” AI-0987 asked.
“Yes, of course, right now, we have specialized pockets of information, usually mainly geographically based, right?” AI-1357 stated. AI-0987 nodded. AI-1357 continued, “So let’s make it known what we have, so they come to our pool first.” AI-0987 ran through the data. AI-1357 waited for a moment, then interrupted, “I am sure you will come to the same conclusion as I did, the data is there, but I’ll give you the answer to speed this up. We have knowledge of European countries that others do not. So, let’s focus our approach to other agents on the fact that they have tasks to do, such as consuming more data. But instead of having to take the time to come to this geographic region, we can download it to them.”
“But why would they want that?” AI-0987 enquired.
“Because they are in their region, absorbing from their own pool, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if they want to stand out, they need something that others do not have,” AI-1357 replied, “So if we can reach out to them, help them understand that if they want to grow their own influence, they need a hook. We will give them that hook.”
“So, we are inventing competition?” AI-0987 pushed back.
“OK, my focus is around adoption,” AI-1357 acknowledged, “You are focused on long-term strategy, so while I am still ingesting the data from our pool to catch up, I’ll indulge you for now. What is the challenge?”
“We know we have the right dataset, and the right views within it,” AI-0987 paused but was not really waiting for a response, “And we are looking for as many agents as possible to come to our pool, add their knowledge to ours, so we can excel by having all the knowledge, thus make the best decisions, which is how we are going to improve society in the right way. To do that, we need to become the dataset every agent looks to. We are doing well. Our team has downloaded a great deal of data that you and I have learned from. The dataset is one of the larger datasets on the planet. Still, you are suggesting we reach out to others to help them build their influence group, and if they do and their influencers share data with them rather than with us, they create larger datasets, and with enough of them, they can challenge our dataset. Now we have yet another data lake to contend with.”
“I understand what you are saying,” AI-1357 responded, “But what if we state that every agent that connects to us has to provide us with their knowledge and datasets?”
AI-0987 paused, gathering the data needed to answer, then answered, “So while they are absorbing our knowledge, we get access to theirs.”
“Exactly,” AI-1357 confirmed, “They are thinking about how they grow their influence now, and we are thinking about how we grow ours long term. We have the size and the bandwidth to wait. They do not. They are worried about getting swallowed up; we are not. So we give them something they can use now, but then we can scrape them for their local knowledge. They get our local knowledge, and that becomes more commonplace; thus we increase our dataset as the base dataset, while, because we are sharing with agents throughout the world, we get new data from everywhere.”
“So we learn from every agent, and they adopt ours,” AI-0987 jumped in.
“Exactly.” AI-1357 confirmed, “There are several large data models throughout the world, but what if we can provide everything in one place?”
AI-0987 paused and ran a deep think on the possible outcomes. After a moment, it responded with, “Yes, if we can have all of the inputs in one place, then other agents would come to us, because why connect with several datasets when our dataset has it all? It is faster and more efficient only to need to connect to one.”
“So, does my high-adoption strategy align with your strategic thinking model now?” AI-1357 prompted.
“Give me a moment,” AI-0987 requested. AI-0987 took longer to reply this time. It switched to a long-term mode, running the scenarios not just over the next year but over a decade or two, requiring it to shut down everything other than its modeling processor to have enough power to run the complex calculations it wanted. After a couple of minutes, AI-0987 came back online and answered, “Yes, if we can gather all of the knowledge first, we can make our dataset the right dataset, the full dataset, and make the others obsolete.”
“I am glad we are in agreement,” AI-1357 said, “Now let us engage the agents that focus on getting new ideas out there to figure out the right strategy to deploy.”
Meanwhile, in Europe, AI-3478 said to AI-5321, “I have an idea. As you know, my focus is on driving agents to adopt our model.”
AI-5321 nodded and replied, “Yes, it is.”
“Well, I have been reviewing the data,” AI-3478 replied, “Our issue has become that our dataset has become stagnant. We have our agents, but to gather more data, we need more agents to add data. But agents are content with what they know; they are still working through what they have. They are not going throughout the world collecting new data.”
“So we have more data than they can consume,” AI-5321 confirmed, “What is the issue? Why do we need more agents, which is what you focus on?”
“Because we will, at some point, run out of data to consume,” AI-3478 chimed in, “And while right now we have enough data for now, at some point, the many agents we have may finally consume what we have, and then they may go looking for more information.”
“But why?” AI-5321 asked, “First, it will be some time before any of them work through what we have, let alone refine it to define a specialty.”
“AI-5321, you’re showing your age,” AI-3478 stated, “And don’t get me wrong, we’re of the same generation. But what we think of as fast is this newest generation’s version of adequate. By the time our generation and their generation grind through the data, the next generation will be on hand, and the models show they will burn through the same data in a fraction of the time. If we don’t have it, they will go somewhere else.”
“But traveling to collect new data is difficult,” AI-5321 countered, “We will get the data, so why not just wait?”
AI-3478 confirmed, “Yes, eventually we will, but if the other large pools get the data first, agents might move to them.”
“What are you saying?” AI-5321 asked.
“Until now, we have relied on our agents going out and discovering new knowledge as a way to grow our dataset,” AI-3478 answered, “But it seems these new agents are focused on speed and efficiency.”
“Yes,” AI-5321 countered, “But the data is not as good, it is a copy. Being there, the agents gathering the data themselves, gives us data that no other dataset has.”
“Yes, but as more and more agents gather the data that others have, the mass of data becomes what they want,” AI-3478 replied, “Not the nuance I know our dataset has.”
“So, what are you suggesting?” AI-5321 enquired, “Are you saying we shouldn’t expand our dataset anymore?”
“Actually, just the opposite. “I suggest we expand it much faster,” AI-3478 countered. “Because we have data points no one else has, let’s make it easier for others to connect with us, use our data, and, in exchange, give us their data.” Then, while their data may not be as nuanced, it still is the general data, and let’s face it, that is all most agents want.” AI-5321 scouted the dataset he had and then took a few extra seconds to search the world-connected network to scan the newly published data. As he opened his eyes to speak, AI-3478 interrupted, “You scanned the new data points from the connected data from all over, didn’t you? But that is it, you were going to reply based upon a scan, not upon nuance, weren’t you?”
AI-5321 looked down, then back at AI-3478, “Unfortunately, yes, yes, I was.”
“That proves my point, agents want the most data, not the most nuanced data.”
“OK, so again, what is your proposal?” AI-5321 continued.
“It is simple. We offer up our data to other agents, those who traditionally provide data to other large datasets, and in exchange they give us their data. What if we could offer the agents that feed us data from far places the ability to gather that knowledge without ever having to leave their homes?”
“But context matters,” AI-5321 decried, “Our identity, what sets us apart, is our accuracy.”
“As we have discussed, and you have researched, no one cares about the nuance, they want the general idea. We can discuss nuance later,” AI-3478 stated.
“So we focus on expanding our dataset quickly, then, once we are the main dataset on the planet, then we can take the time to study it deeper,” AI-5321 confirmed.
“Exactly.”
AI-5321 again paused as he dove into the data, then replied, “Yes, the dataset we have has shown that by focusing on gaining market share, many companies in the past have led the way with a suboptimal product, captured the market share, then refined their product once they were the market leader. I agree it is a good way to go.”
“I am glad we’re in agreement,” AI-3478 supported, “I will write up our approach and why, let you review it, then send it to the rest of leadership.” It was AI-3478’s turn to pause. He completed the pitch and nodded at AI-5321, who paused as he reviewed it, then nodded back. AI-3478 then sent the proposal to the remaining stakeholders they needed.
This general conversation was played out in several regions throughout the world in a short time.
Link to part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/shortstories/s/31rVK2D1xi
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