AI Era: Bots are People Too

"Yes, mom," Kaitlyn said brightly as she walked around the counter and rolled her chair into place and sat.

"C'mon, Viv," Nada said, "let's get a coffee. You know I'm damned good with that machine back there."

Viv chuckled, nodded and followed the jeans-clad woman through the door. The woman might or might not know how to suck a cock or eat a pussy, but she did make a mean cappuccino.

Viv sipped her drink with her eyes closed when she felt as much as heard Nada enter the room and opened her eyes as the other woman set her laptop on the table and flipped it open as she sat down. She sipped at her Americano.

"Nada," Viv said, after an instant the woman looked up from the screen, "cut the shit. What's up?"

She knew her voice was possibly harsher than necessary, but the Hair of the Dog wasn't magic. The headaches were gone but she still felt drained.

Nada sucked her lips into her mouth for a moment, looked down at her screen and nodded.

"Ok, Viv, I'm sorry this is all sudden and seems... uh, odd. Because it is. Here. Listen to this."

A song came over hidden speakers around the room. The decor might've been functional, but the electronics were top shelf. Viv knew the song immediately.

"That's 'Some Enchanted Evening,'" she said, "obviously. From the new movie, not the original."

"Good ear," Nada nodded, "now, this."

A couple of key taps and the song ended. Then a new version started. Viv's eyes scrunched slightly as she focused on it.

"Someone's imitating the song. Doing it quite well, too."

"Do you know who?"

"Uh," Viv's voice had a hint of annoyance, so she upped that, "no. Wait, hell no. Good baritone though."

"That's Nathan. You know, Aleisha's Nathan. You know something about music?"

"I enjoy getting laid out on bar tables and ass fucked in public," Viv tried to keep her voice a light lilt but it wavered, "but I have other hobbies, too. Aleisha's the singer, but my parents made me take music lessons. I liked the theory part more than actually playing so quit that as soon as I managed to out wait my mom; can read, write music, and identify most instruments. And I know Nathan sings."

She tapped her purse. "I have a couple of duets she's sent me, if you want to hear."

"I've seen and heard some," Nada said with a softened tone, "they do well together. But, ok, here's this."

Another tap. It was the same song, but a significantly different register. Viv started to speak but Nada gave her a 'silence' gesture, so she shrugged and listened. Nada stopped the song about two-thirds of the way through and nodded at Viv.

"Soprano, not baritone. Never heard it that way, but it works if you don't think of the scene."

Nada nodded. "Ignoring the higher register, she's indeed good. throws in some unique bits here and there. Maybe it's to do with her voice, compared to the originals, that are all tenors or baritones. Can you guess the singer?"

Viv squinted. She was getting annoyed, but jumping onto the table and grabbing the bitch's head and smashing her face into it a few times was... probably a bad idea. She started to pitch her voice as sarcastically as she could and answer 'Kaitlyn' when something flipped in her brain.

"That's Felicia, that weird-ass futabot you built for Wyman," she said and Nada's quick smile confirmed it, "he seems to like his little toy."

"She's five-eleven not wearing those huge heels Wyman puts her in and she has muscles like Conan," Nada laughed, "not much little about her."

"Including her thirty-six triple dee tits and the nine inches hanging between her legs, well, I assume it hangs occasionally," Viv said with a chuckle, "nothing small indeed. How'd you get those tits so natural? Just the right bit of sag,"

"Modeled after your friend Diana's, not like there's not plenty of video of hers."

"Shit, yeah. Shoulda recognized 'em."

"From the responses to his blogs, I'm quite happy we happened to get him back in February. I'd been shot down by Morgan and everyone about futabots, but, well, they all like green and we already have orders. But, you're right, that's her."

"Why'd you make her so beautiful? I mean, except for her... uh... massive cock, she's lovelier than even Kaitlyn. Or like 99% of actual, real women. Or most any other fembot! But I need to bleach my brain," Viv said, her mood lightened, "the picture I get of what she's doing with that nine inches while she serenades Wyman... or he does to it while he's, uh, doing her, um, wait, she has..."

"A vagina. Of course. But, yeah, ick! But... well, this is the business I've chosen. Mustn't be judgmental. Wyman's livin' HIS dream!"

Viv inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. Nada looked back at her screen and shook her head slightly as she chuckled.

"Ok, Nada, singing bots. Like Lachlan. So what? You made them."

The change in Nada's expression was clear. "The singing is the point. Well, a point. There's something not right with Lachlan. There's a hint in Felicia's singing, but..."

Viv blinked before her expression settled between a glare and utter disbelief. "Not... not right? So he sings. You just showed me, they all sing. I'm guessing the one Gina has does too."

"Here," Nada tapped her keyboard. Viv's mouth opened but she held back and listened.

There were a few sounds of people in the background, a resonance that made clear this recording had been made outside, unlike the others. But the song was still clearly in the foreground. Viv wondered which stream Nada had chosen for this as Lachlan's version played over the speakers. She resisted, but only through the first few words, before she smiled. Her mood rose and her eyes unfocused as she stared at the beige wall behind and to the other woman's side. Her smile broadened and she licked her lips at the final "never let her go." Her body's lassitude had faded. She felt refreshed. And horny.

"Viv," the voice was soft, kind, but firm, "hey, Viv."

She shook her head and turned slightly. It took a moment for her to focus on Nada's worried expression.

"You know who that was," Nada said and Viv exhaled and gave an 'of course' gesture, "but, did you HEAR that?"

Viv's eyebrows tightened and she started to speak, but stopped. Her face softened as reran the memory.

"Him. And the others. Even... the movie. A professional singer/actor. But. Lachlan."

"Aleisha did call me, right after. Before dinner. She said he was good."

"Viv, Lachlan didn't sing that song." Viv couldn't hide her mute 'what the fuck' before Nada continued. "He reinterpreted it. No wonder you fucked his brains out in public, hell, had he been singing that to me, I'd've been on that table. But. I've watched the videos. Watched him looking at you, walking with you, singing TO you, FOR you. The other bots, MY other bots, they just imitate what they hear. Perfectly, but just mimicry. What they do. What I've built them to do. But Lachlan. Lachlan is not doing that, Viv."

Viv's mind couldn't get past Nada's comment about being on a table. Being on a table and getting fucked. In public. THIS woman.

By Lachlan. Anger rose, but the expression across the table wasn't what the blonde hostess at Impala had worn. It didn't go away, but worry bubbled higher.

"Are you saying he's going to go bad, Nada? You said he couldn't turn into a murderbot. You and Wyman talked, back in February, and more. Laws, or whatever, for all of them. Wyman's read all that space squid and murderbot and manga stuff."

Nada chuckled. "Where else would he get his... obsession. But we don't call them Laws, Viv, we don't want to... waste all our time arguing on the internet. We call them Behavioral Inhibitions."

"He wasn't very inhibited last night," Viv said with a flashed grin, "and my ass is still a bit... sore."

"But you learned that first day, if they really hurt you, they'll stop. He knew you weren't in real danger or anything. And you didn't stop him. BDSM is an area we've... not gone for. It can be enough trouble for people to get right. So, no. Lachlan's not going to turn murderbot. At least, I don't think so..."

"You... don't think so?"

"Viv... that diet plan you posted about. Did you tell him to do that?"

"Wha? Uh, no. I always complain about what I eat. I'm lucky, I work out like a demon, enjoy it. Good genes, too. But, he just listened to me, sprang it on me few days ago. Said he'd bought what he'd need for a week..."

"Did all that himself?"

"Yeah," Viv said brightly, "I just bitched about it, never bothered to do anything. But I only eat things I like, he spent a few weeks so, you said they can learn. He learned. His menus... all sound great. Except last night. Did our budget presentation, night to celebrate a bit so we went out. Look at Kaitlyn, she learned to be a receptionist."

"We adjusted her programming," Nada said, "had her watch lots of receptionists. She imitates. She's fine, so long as nothing weird happens. She'd even eat your pussy again---."

"Lachlan takes care of that just fine. But... if you'd like to give it a go... join us?" Viv gave her best leer.

Nada shook her head, glanced at her screen then back at Viv. "If you asked Kaitlyn to go shopping, or cook, or whatever, other than fucking and reception, she'd be lost. If you trained her on one, she'd lose something else. This new generation that you've had since after the Vegas show in June; Lachlan, Felicia, Nathan, the others, have half again more neuromorphic processors, double the memory, better and more sensors, much finer muscle control. And---."

"Their skin, it's... natural. I'd never heard about the 'uncanny valley' before Wyman brought it up. I've read about it since. Kaitlyn and Ethan and them were good, and the ones we had for the Vegas show in June too. Then you sprang these on us."

"We held them back from the show. With more processing power, we hoped they could learn, being in the community one on one. We'd study the changes in their programming and replicate in new ones as we build them."

"Lachlan's learned so much since June... he's even... started making jokes. New ones! He used to repeat ones he knew I liked, but now... he makes them up. He's so cute with that!"

Nada took a slow and very deep inhale. Yeah, thought Viv as her eyes flashed to fabric that'd gone snug across the woman's chest, there's an awesome set in there that's just screaming for the right blouse...

"But that's just... he's mostly the only one. Felicia tells people they meet it's good she's got such a big dick because Wyman's is so tiny so SOMEONE in the house has an impressive one. He put her up to that, but somewhere, it's her doing. Electric Brains wrote the substrate AI code, distills most of their 'intelligence,' but me, and especially Petra, have extended it, and did the parts specific to body movement and the like. Electric Brains does the thinking, we do the feeling. The 'humanity.' And as you know, Morgan's a genius at building the bodies. This new skin is used on burn patients, we've patented ways to grow it in bulk and a broader range of tones, sell it at cost to the medical industry. It's unfortunate it's needed, but it's good cash flow. But we help. We're the best we know of at what we're doing. But we didn't... couldn't... we don't know how to make Lachlan do what he's doing. Stuff I've never seen Electric Brains manage either, even on that new combined supercomputer quantum-neuromorphic system they released a few months back."

Viv looked at Nada. Quantum neurowhatsit? Computers. She'd been a girl when... something had happened. Someone called Black Cloud had posted incredibly advanced designs, processors, programs, these wrist pads, all that, on the internet before it was even the internet. Dad had said it'd taken a few years to even figure out how to build the stuff, but then it'd turned the world upside-down and the millennium had ticked over a couple of years ago and the new digits seemed to have accelerated the changes. Apparently Devil Girl had posted her Rules and other stuff about the same time. It was mostly sciencey stuff, outside of Viv's interest, but the Devil had also claimed that one set of aliens would attack the sun in a thousand years and another set of aliens were spying on humans. That'd meant most people had dismissed her stuff as fanciful. Viv didn't care about science fiction, but something about that statement had always stuck with her. Like the Rules.

Humaniforms. Electric Brains. U-Vision. Even URide seeming to know before you knew that you'd want a ride. Taxis in this and most cities had always been useless unless you were going to or from the airport and a city hotel. URide had stormed into the gap all over the world. All of them owed their existence to Black Cloud's tech. Viv and others owed debts to Devil Girl's unabashed sexuality. But Lachlan HAD changed. But, so what? That's what Nada had wanted them to do with these newest bots.

"When I read your blog about the cooking thing---," Nada interrupted Viv's thoughts.

"Nathan cooks for Aleisha," Viv interjected, "they all learned to cook. You said that was part of the test. I've seen Felicia's videos with her huge tits out, her, uh, her half-awake nine incher bouncing around under nothing but a tiny apron as she talks and cooks."

"Shit, those are POPULAR! We've got a 75-25 split with Wyman on what they make, he gets the 75, if you're wondering. 'Fixing Futa Food with Felicia,'" Nada said cheerfully, "but Wyman taught her how to do the show although she came up with the name. But they all cook what they get told. Or, pick randomly from lists. And the name is cute, but it's really just what she is and does. They can access the entire internet, watch videos and read up from the top chefs in the world. So, they learn the techniques and get the recipes. Lachlan did all that, but he ALSO studied YOU and created a personal menu. And."

Viv's mouth froze open when Nada raised a finger and looked hard. She morphed her expression to a soft smile and shrugged.

"I have a few musicians and singers I use as consultants. Surprised us, in surveys we do, after, uh, fuckability, cooking is second and musical talent is third, in what people want. Piano is good, guitars too, but lots of instruments are still hard, not quite the fine muscle control yet. But singing, that's easy, relatively speaking. But it's all mechanical, note perfect imitation. No... feeling. I've checked with a couple, ones who hadn't seen the videos. They were amazed, asked how the hell they've never heard this singer. Claim they'll make him, me and themselves rich as fuck. Told 'em I'd put him in touch."

"Maybe it's me... I'm just better than Aleisha and Gina and Wyman...," Viv said.

Nada laughed. "Viv, you're the one who admitted to a string of failures on that front. Your batting average had been... uh, perfect."

"Perfectly dreadful. I'm due a success!"

"You have taught him more about sex than... well, hell, you've taught ME more about sex than I even knew existed!"

"You need to get out more, Nada. Better, stay in bed more. C'mon, you've got an assembly line. Grab the next one for yourself. Write it off. Research. Lachlan can download all his sex tricks to the new one. Reprogram that one to not call you mom. Unless... hey, if that gets you off, go for it!"

Nada's reply was slowed by laughter but just as she'd settled both she and Viv's attention was drawn to the door when Petra stopped in the doorway and tapped on the open door.

"Hey, boss, got a minute?"

"Petra. Come in, sit down."

"Uh, um..."

"Petra, whatever you've found, tell Viv too."

Viv looked between the two as both flashed looks at her. She'd gotten to know Petra. Nada was a few years older and Petra barely a few months younger, but they'd all grown up in the 'new' world. Every generation had gaps, but the modern world seemed to have a wider one. But even with them on her side of this gap, she didn't fully understand these two. Age wasn't the only differentiator.

"In," Nada said firmly. Petra's mouth was tight but she stepped into the room and sat, with an empty chair between her and her boss.

"Where's Lachlan?" Viv's question was sharp. She didn't quite manage to keep her glare hidden.

"Uh, Viv, wha..."

"Petra, tell her."

"Oh, ah... he's fine. Anton and Jase are playing VR games with him."

"You mean they're losing VR games to him," Viv said, "I dunno shit about 'em but he plays online sometimes. When my pussy and ass can't handle any more drilling and I tell him to entertain himself. Although I've blown him a couple times while he's playing... and he still wins."

She loved the wince that Petra didn't quite hide.

"He kicks ass. That's all I know. How's he doing?"

"Uh..."

"Dammit, Petra, later we might have our biggest meeting yet. So, out with it. I need to know. And Viv deserves to know."

"He's off the charts. We ran three different Enhanced Turing tests on him. He's got the odd savant quality, but he's as human as I am."

He might be more human than YOU, Viv managed to choke off that part of her sentence. But it was trump card time. She leaned forward and worked her jacket off and set it on the back of the chair to her right. Then she sat with her shoulders back and enjoyed Petra's battle to look without looking.

"Savant quality? Do you mean, like that old 'Rain Man' movie? He's NOT like that."

"Um, no, Viv. Right, he's not," Petra said as she seemed to will the muscles of her neck to force her gaze up, "that movie wasn't exactly a documentary. All of our bots are essentially savants, but most of them are what in humans would be classified as autistic savants. Lack of broad reasoning power, but incredible abilities in focused pursuits. Like, Kaitlyn's skills as a receptionist. She actually handles most of our company from there, scheduling, tracking, I wouldn't even know when to take a shit without her putting it on my calendar."

Viv blinked and fought back surprise. Petra making a joke was almost as surprising as Lachlan doing so. She'd wondered at times if this woman was in truth another one of Nada's bots.

"Yeah," Petra seemed to read Viv's face for the first time, "I'm well on that spectrum. People confuse me. I prefer working with bots."

"You got too hot a bod not to get wild sometime, Petra," Viv said and she cupped her breasts with the red color and the erect shapes of her nipples only slightly obscured, "I bet yours are better than these. If you feel like doing your bots would be incest, come with me and I'll get you some humans who can make you scream. I'll send you the Rules. You got the ass for them, too."

Nada laughed. Petra was as ever in jeans but like her boss had an actual button-down blouse that was only a bit too large and her embarrassed reaction made clear she knew of the Rules. No doubt, since they were all the rage with her creations. And Viv was certain she'd been on the money with her other comment. If Petra wanted a boyfriend, well Viv was poor at finding them. But if the genius programmer couldn't get over the incest impulse to grab one of these new bots off the line right after Nada grabbed hers, finding oversexed fuckhumans, all hard of cock and soft of brain, Viv was a wiz at. But one of them who was also boyfriend material? No.

Until now. "But not Lachlan. You can't have him. He's mine."

"Strictly speaking," Nada started but stopped and smiled when Viv glared at her, "huh, okay. Later."

Petra's slow sigh was audible. "Tell you the truth, boss, I'm not sure he's ours, either. Quick skim, his code's not close to what we loaded in, but that's to be expected. Much of it is tied into morphic feedback loops. But most of the checksums are clean, although the guys are checking a few more things. We'd have to do a full code download and crawl through it. If I didn't know better, I'd accuse Viv of somehow hacking it a bit. But."