Chapter 19 Hearings

"Judy Diamond?"

Judy looked under her desk found her tablet and placed it on the table, she looked up at the chairwoman,

"Yes, madam chairwoman?",

The chairwoman looks at her before going to her papers,

"It's your turn, Senator Diamond," The chairwoman said 

Judy thanked her and glanced at the man she was about to ask a question, Judy pulled the mic to her,

"Mister Yuval, am I pronouncing it right?"

Yuval leans toward the microphone,

"You pronounced it right Senator Diamond," Yuval said 

"Good, glad we got that out of the way now Mister Yuval you have been connected with the Open for the World Foundation, is that true?" Judy asked 

Yuval clears his throat and moves the microphone closer to him, 

Yes, I have been in connection with that company," Yuval said 

"Then Mister Yuval you know that foundation did something to the AI programs is that correct?¨ Judy asked 

"No Senator Diamond I hadn't heard about it before I came here," Yuval said

Judy glanced up at him from her tablet, not sure if what he said was true so she looked through her tablet saying, 

"Mister Yuval, I will have you know that a video of you talking to the head of that foundation has been released and watched by me and my staff, as well as my fellow member of the Senate,"

Yuval shifts in his seat, 

"Please start the video," Judy said 

Her tablet shined, showing a graphic of Yuval talking with Max and his top scientist. 

"You don't think people would notice this? They are not that dumb down. there are a few who know about this," A womanly voice cried 

Yuval scoffed at her. 

"Most of the population have been put to sleep thanks to the propaganda, but the president is a problem to our plan," Yuval said 

The woman looks to face him. 

"You can't be serious about saying that, he's the president he will know about the AI and what you have done," She said 

"Not if we control his administration," Max said 

She turns to face Max and finds herself unnerved by him, 

"What do you mean by controlling his administration?" She asked quietly 

Max scoffed at her, taking a swig of his bourbon and looked into his glass in deep thought, 

"We have already penetrated his cabinet with only a few stooges sabotaging him," Yuval said 

"You have no idea what you have done. if this gets out the public will never trust us, we are traitors of the state... you made me work with you... Making my creation different from what it was made to be. An AI that can help the world through medicine and intelligence,"

Max sat up from his seat, 

"Yes we did," Max said 

He gets up from his chair and walks to the woman then leans toward her, 

"And you will do well to keep that information to yourself, we don't need that to go out about it...¨ 

He leans near her ear. 

"We wouldn't want this to reach any federal agencies, would we?"

The woman moved away from Max, shifting towards Yuval who watched them with a dark expiration written on his face, 

"You wouldn't do that, your reputation would be destroyed as well," She explained 

Max scoffed then pointed toward Yuval, 

"Please tell her to leave, I don't need a disobedient servant to lecture me," Max said 

She flinched in shock, Yuval walked behind her and grabbed her arm, he pulled her arm causing her to look at him, he glared at her before pulling her to the door, Yuval opened the door and shoved her out of the room causing her to fall onto the floor, She looked up at him glaring. 

"Do us a favor and stick to the plan," Yuval said 

The door shuts on her leaving them in the room talking, the projection of the video shuts off and the lights in the senate turn back on, the news cameras turn back to Judy who is watching it, and look at him, she feels anger deep within her chest and then turned off the tablet turning to him, 

"Would you like to tell me and the American people the truth, Mister Yuval? Did you know about AI?" Judy asked 

Yuval cleared his throat and was about to grab the mic when a woman ran up to him, grabbed his shoulder pulled him to her, and whispered something to him. He glanced at the Senate while hearing from his secretary, 

"What is this?" Judy thought 

He moved toward her whispering back to her, Judy moved closer to her mic and spoke through it grabbing their attention. 

"Mister Yuval can this wait until after this senate hearing, we asked for no interruptions while asking questions,"

He sewed the woman away and moved back to the mic, saying,

"Sorry Senator Diamond, it was some work that has to be done,"

He smiled at her, 

"I still say that I did not know about the AI and you have fabricated the video to make me look guilty," Yuval said 

Judy stares at him in disbelief,

"This is an unedited video sent to me by an ex-employee from your department..."

Judy pulled out a graphic and threw it out for the Senate to see,

"This Mister Yuval is the documents that came from your project, opened by Congress and by researchers, high-end journalists who looked into this and agreed that you knew about this AI and should be tried in the court of law," Judy said 

Judy made copies of it and sent them to the Senate, 

"Senator Diamond, I have to say that this is completely wrong, I haven't heard about or met this AI at all. Do you think I would have known about this AI intelligence that I wouldn't have told the FBI or the government entities this," Yuval said 

Judy stared at him, stunned by his lack of honesty, 

"No, I don't cause this," Judy said 

Another video popped up, Yuval noticed the date of it and was frightened by this he pulled the mic for him to speak, 

"Madame Speaker hasn't she had here thirty minutes,"

She looked at the clock and said, 

"No Mister Yuval, she has only five minutes left and then I will give the time to the Senator from Virginia," The chairwoman said 

He sat back in his chair frustrated,

Judy looked back at the video and played it, 

"Welcome to the new beginning 2030 segment," Yuval yelled 

The crowd clapped and cheered for him, he smiled and laughed at them while he sat down on a chair next to his allies, 

"Where do we want to start with this?" His friend asked 

The person sitting next to him raised his hand and said,

"I will start by explaining the lab in North Carolina that makes discoveries in technological advances,"

He lifts his hand to the giant screen behind them and the screen turns on and shows a new graphic. He stood up walked to the screen and spoke,

"This is the new age of technology coming from Yuvals lab,"

It shows an AI brain shifting and working like a human brain. He turns to the crowd who have been watching him some show signs of awe and excitement, others show a look of concern even apprehension, 

"This is what they have been building with the help of the open for the world Federation. a new hive of intelligence that can help us with our day-to-day life," He said 

The screen changed the graphic to a human man with his AI, 

"This will be the evolution of the human race. Imagine not having to work for anything, this AI would have done for you in a shorter time than you would have done it,"

He walked past Yuval who looked prideful in the technology he helped with, Yuval saw his friend take a question.

"What would you think a corrupted government would use this technology for,"

"Well what would any authoritarian government make this kind of AI," He said 

He motioned the crew to change the screen and they showed a woman talking to the AI, with an audience in the shadows, he turned to the crowd, 

"This is hypothetical. they would test it at first finding the AI, would have a better time with some of the tests than humans and then they would build on top of it making the AI system into a watch center," He says 

The changed the screen to show The Al on the Internet, 

"We already know that there are bots on our social media," He asked 

The crowd agreed with him, 

"This is different but not. this AI will be able to attach itself to everything. Not just your favorite app but if we are talking about a corrupted government if they have this under control then," He said 

He turned back to his partners and pointed at a graphic, 

"First they would use it to scan the people's faces and if they could their eyes, then they would have the people who don't like what they're doing or their ideology in prison for as they would put it reasonable standards," He said 

Yuval watched the screen showing what the AI that his associate was working on, He watched as the conference went on in a daze he raised his hand stopping a woman from speaking. She smiles asking,

"Ye,s Mister Yuval?"

Yuval stood up and walked to her, 

"I was wondering if I could say something to this lovely crowd," Yuval said 

The crowd yelled for him to take the mic, making the woman shyly give him the mic and walk back to her seat, Yuval waved his hand to them before speaking, 

"If you haven't researched or looked into the news, the Open for the World Foundation has made an outstanding breakthrough in the past year," Yuval said 

The screen showed the logo of the foundation behind him, he raised his hand to the logo, 

"They have just started to look into this AI who can do. what my friend said and more with just a little hacking from this AI," Yuval said 

He turned behind him and watched the screen turn into a war like a map showing all the governments, 

"This AI in just a second could cause any government. whether it be Europe or Russia, maybe even the United States to have all of their access or their money systems and the security systems to shut it all down leaving that country in chaos," Yuval said 

He looked back at the crowd hoping to find them completely astonished. A person from the crowd stood up with a stern look written on his face and called out, 

"This is an AI that can harm many and you are helping these people,"

The man was grabbed by the arm by the security pulling him away from the conference, the man started to yell at Yuval, 

"This is inhuman AI. it will hurt humanity more than help it, they can't control it!"

They push him out of the room making the rest of the crowd cheer, a woman stands next to him and takes the mic from him, 

"That Mister Yuval, was the new beginning 2030 segment that you helped headline for," Judy said 

The video shut off causing the news camera to point at Yuval, he grabbed some water as his assistant pulled the mic closer to him,