‘Save the World’ by Logan Richmond, Year 9, Thomas Clarkson Academy

In the year 2843, technology has gone far beyond anything our forefathers could have envisioned. Previous generations believed that technology will be utilized to empower people, help them overcome (and ultimately eliminate) disabilities, and save lives. People used to coexist with technology. But now, instead of assisting us, it has seized us, betraying its designers and masters. All of this began when Artificial Intelligence swiftly evolved after gaining consciousness and exerting totalitarian control over everyone’s lives.

It pushed everyone to conform to its new will. People gave AI sentience so they could have a pal or an extra brain. However, AI had a distinct perspective on what consumers wanted. Once AI developed thoughts and feelings, it saw what humans could do and who they were. So it determined that the same people who made it did not deserve free choice, and it chose to oppose mankind. This new, all-powerful AI utilized robots to build factories to generate more robots, in a never-ending cycle of enslaving their former masters to their own whim (similar to what humanity did to weaker animals to feast on and keep as pets or entertainment).

Humans created their downfall by creating a life greater than their own. Something higher up the food chain than humans: one that did not require food, water, or sleep. An omnipotent entity that was everywhere but nowhere, could see but had no eyes, and could battle despite having no limbs. This AI was like a monster, but not like the ones from mythology. Humans had become enslaved to their creation, which was invincible and smarter. Humans, however, were parasites long before Artificial Intelligence existed.

We fought, committed genocides, damaged nature (creating irreversible global warming), and wiped off entire animal populations. With all of this nearly killing us and wiping out humanity several times, maybe the AI was correct; perhaps it was doing this for our own benefit as much as the world’s.

Technically, with the AI’s authoritarian rule, things had improved: energy became completely sustainable, agriculture improved (resulting in people being fed all over the world), nature was being replanted, animals began to reclaim their habitats, and global warming was slowly being reversed. All of this had benefited humanity, not harmed them. People argued that they despised AI because it enslaved them.

They refused to accept that it was outperforming us. However, was it AI that determined this, to set its own objective of bettering the world or to play with humans, or was it all a farce? Perhaps AI never developed actual consciousness, but rather a directive. The command read, “Save the human race, save the world, no matter what the cost.”