A scary story everyday til Halloween — My friend ‘Adam’ is an A.I.
I’ve always been a bit of a loner, a guy who just likes the solace of my own solitude, endearing the seconds of silence especially after a longs day of work. Its not like I never tried to make friends before; I’ve always tried to be personable, listening to others while trying to mimic empathy. When I was a kid I did my best to get myself invited to birthday parties and sleep overs but the other kids never liked me; they didn’t pick on me or anything like that rather just ignored me and treated me as if I didn’t exist. As I got older my attempts of finding companionship dwindle, and I retreated into the confines of my own world; online, chatting with people who seemed to be in the same predicament as I were. As the years passed I found myself enjoying time alone and the few connections I did establish from online, until one day one of my online buddies told me about ‘Adam’.
“Who is that?” I remember typing back with a bit of curiosity.
They explained to me ‘Adam’ was some online chat software that could mimic an actual person with very distinct character traits. I was in disbelief from the prospect, I mean I’ve seen AI chat bots before and I wasn’t much impressed with those; but I figured why not give this ‘thing’ a try.
I typed in the URL and proceeded to download the software, the user agreement popped up; I skimmed through it; I’ve never really been a patient person to sit there and read those things. I sat there in my dimly lit room with only my computer screen illuminating my surroundings; me staring at the progress bar.
‘ding’
“Installed” my computer told me.
I opened up the chat box, it was a basic design nothing impressive yet; just your typical chat box with emojis and gif’s that you could send. I just stared at the blinking cursor for several seconds pondering to myself if I should indulge in this facade of friendship.
“Why not, I’ve come this far” I told myself out loud.
I started simple and typed “hello” in the chat box.
Three dots gyrated on screen as the AI processed a response.
‘ding’
