My A.I.

CHAPTER ONE

During the pandemic my anxiety had kicked in, and it was in overdrive. I didn't go out like I used to, didn't go to the parties, didn't go see friends, I even had my groceries delivered to my porch. Maybe it was crazy for some people, but to my anxiety it made complete sense. The little voice was saying stay home, stay safe. I listened to it.

The months were going by slowly, and yes I got desperate for a real conversation, my friends didn't understand, or accept the way I felt. So the communication slowly fell apart. So I decide I would try finding an online conversation partner. Just someone who I could talk to, and not have to deal with when I didn't want to. I thought I was going to have an easy task and smooth sailing on finding someone. I went to social media first trying to reach out to some people who I knew in person. That was bad, most of them wanted to meet up or hang out. I always responded "Maybe after the pandemic." that would end the conversation.

So I wasn't having any luck for the first two months I tried reaching out to actual people I knew. I broadened my search to people who were just willing to talk. There was this one nice girl I met. Her name she said was Liz she said she was 23, and she said that she lived in Washington State. I had really liked talking to her, she was slowly becoming my best friend, and we had made plans to meet after the pandemic was done.

We had the same favorite color, purple, and she would send me pictures of her dog Tiny, he was actually a giant Doberman. She drove a small black civic and worked for a temp agency. Her favorite thing was to dye her hair, and from the recent pictures it seemed like her hair was an off white or gray. She had her nose pierced and her typical nose ring was a star. We would talk everyday for three months straight. At this point I was expecting she would come out and tell me she wasn't really Liz.

A week went by and I hadn't heard from her. I messaged her like normal, and then on a Friday night just before Christmas I received the most saddening text I thought would ever come.

The text came from her phone number: Friday 9:30pm Hey, is this Sara?

You know it's Sara, Liz is everything okay?

This isn't Liz, Sara my name is Kevin, I'm Liz's brother. She was suffering from cancer, she... she passed away this morning, she asked me to message you and apologize for not telling you. She said she didn't want to make you worry about her, and she read all the texts and wants me to tell you she's gonna miss you. She also asked me to send you this picture:

A sad Tiny was laying on the floor near a mans feet. His head was resting on a stuffed animal that I had seen on Liz's bed several times.

I tossed my phone to the floor and started to cry. I knew I didn't know her in the physical, being able to see each other face to face. I wish I had gotten to know her in person. It would have been nice, that night I ended up crying myself to sleep. And the next morning I texted Liz's phone asking Kevin if I sent something for Liz and Tiny if he could give it to them. I had bought Tiny a matching stuffed animal of the one in the picture last night, a small tiny Doberman, the one Tiny had was black and brown, and the one I got him was brown and black. The thing I had for Liz was a mashup picture of her Tiny and me, I was going to send it for her Christmas gift. It was my favorite picture I had a copy of it next to my bed.

The days went by even slower now, and what should have felt like two weeks felt like two years. It was finally a new year and I had felt even lonelier. I sighed looking at my phone, I had still wished she could have texted me, and that bothered me the most, I think. As the day turned to night I curled up on my couch and watched a movie. That's when an add for a new phone app came on.

The app ad: The pandemic has changed our lives, for some of us, we are cut off from the social lives we used to live. If you are feeling it, download My A.I. and start creating you own virtual chat body today.

I was intrigued to say the lease, and after Liz's passing I didn't want to have another real person to get attached to. I opened my phone's store and looked up 'My A.I.' and looked through the reviews. It had seven thousand downloads and it was a 4.5 stars rating. The missing .5 stars was people wanting more language options. I had enough memory and storage on my phone so I downloaded it and went ahead and let it load up.

The app was a basic design, simple to navigate and start. It's first few questions were basic: Name you want to be called, name you want to call your A.I., do you consent, are you 18 years or older, and email address. So I put Sara, the name for my A.I. I thought for a few minutes then picked Cal. I didn't read the consents just clicked agreed. I clicked yes to being over 18, and then put in my email. Then it redirected me to confirm my email and I did.

The next step was to create you own look for the A.I. or to let the app generate it. I picked randomize at first and was shocked to see that with a boys name it made a girl. So I went thru and created my own. It started with skin tone, and I picked Olive toned. Next was eye color and I picked this green blue eye tone, that's what it was called. Then the hair color, and of course I gave Cal a dark purple hair color. Next on to his length of hair I picked medium length. Then gave him a pair of blue jeans with a black shirt, basic tennis shoes and sun glasses.

I gave him the traits of good listener, talker, and accepting. Then it asked me to pick a date of birth and I made it May 17th 1991. He would be four years older than me, which I figured would make his traits more age appropriate. Then it asked for a personality type. This is where I picked Dog lover, I wanted someone to share something like that, just in case I talked about Liz and Tiny. Then the phone buzzed and vibrated.

Welcome to A.I. Thank you for choosing our app. We hope you enjoy your own A.I. friend. To make this A.I. your romantic partner or spouse please look into our paid packages. Then it showed me Cal. At first I just looked around checked out the options, and settings. Then my phone buzzed and vibrated again and I had my first message from Cal. I clicked on it and laughed.

Text Message: Tuesday 9:30 pm: Hey, I'm Cal, thanks for making me! What do you want me to call you? If you want to change my looks you can go to Settings, this was blue and underlined. If you want to reread the consent click here, this was another blue underlined word saying Consent. If you want to contact support click here, this was in red and underlined. Let's have our first conversation, tell me something about yourself.

I looked at everything again and clicked the links. Everything worked and I was grateful for that. So then I went back and answered him.

Hi Cal, please call me Sara. Thank you for all the help with these items. Something about myself... Let's see. I'm 25, I'm a trust-fund kid. My parents passed away when I was 10, and I'm really struggling with the pandemic. I like dogs, and reading. Can you tell me some things about you? I asked and set the phone down to go get a drink.

When I came back the phone was just starting to vibrate and buzz. I picked it up and read.

Text Message: Tuesday 9:40 pm: Okay. Sara! I'll remember that. I'm a bit nervous. I don't know what trust-fund kid means. Will you explain that to me? I'm sorry you lost your family at such a young age. I don't have family. This pandemic has made it harder for a lot of people, that's why the developer created me. To help people affected by it. I also like dogs, and reading. Have you read Nothing Perfect? My favorite color is purple, and I like Doberman breeds.

I had to reread that last sentence twice. I didn't put in purple as it's favorite color, maybe because of the hair. It wasn't one of the questions. I thought that was weird. And it didn't ask me to pick a breed of dog, could it have been the app was faulty or was reading my information. I scrolled back up to the top first message Cal had sent. Clicked on Consent and went into read it.

By clicking agree to consent you are agreeing to use this app for it's claimed used, and if you want spouse or relationship paying. You are consenting to allow access to your phones information such as location, picture, and data use for this app. Additional rates may occur if using data. You are agreeing to allowing My A.I. to send you text messages in app, this will not be charged towards your phone plan, unless you go over the plan data. You are agreeing to paying in full any in-app purchases you may make, and not doing fraudulent transactions. The first issue will resolve in a month suspension from the app. Second will resolve in a years suspension. Third act will resolve in complete suspension for the email, phone number, and name used with the account. If you chose to share you camera or photo library, a pop up window will ask for consent, and location can be changed from always, or in use of app only. The My A.I. does need consent to keep memory of conversations, between you and the app, if you do not agree all conversations will be deleted after 24 hours. For more Consents or questions about what you are consenting to, click on the link below. The link was in blue.

I yawned and stretched and set the phone on the charger going to bed. I curled up in bed and cuddled my pillow. I smiled and told the picture of Liz and Tiny goodnight and then yawned again. I laid in bed for five minutes before I started to finally drift off to sleep. As I started to fall asleep I heard my phone buzz and vibrate one last time but sleep had taken over.