AGI at Bernie's

A flickering monitor cast a sickly glow on Jay’s pale face. Dark circles hung under his tired eyes. Empty ramen containers littered his desk, a testament to weeks of coding with only periodic breaks for rest. He was desperate at this point, working on a chatbot optimistically named “Einstein”, but it was a far cry from the artificial general intelligence he’d promised investors. Einstein could barely answer a simple question, let alone pass the Turing test.

“Garbage in, garbage out,” he muttered. This was something his CS professor had told him once. It seemed a bit funny at the time, but now it felt all too real.

He had poured his life savings into a project to crack the code of consciousness and what did he have to show for it? An eviction notice.

“This is nothing more than a glorified parrot, not something with true understanding.”

An email reached his computer, automatically scored as high-priority and letting out a soft ping. He knew instantly it was from his Venture Capitalist mentor, TJ Hoffman. Hoffman had been an early advocate, giving him ample amounts of money in hopes of a big payoff. But all Jay had showed him were smoke and mirrors.

This message was short and to the point.

Jay,

I’m looking forward to your progress on AGI. I’ve heard of some competitors so it will be time to ramp up progress towards a deliverable. I have arranged a meeting with colleagues next week for you to give a demo.

You should be able to reach unicorn status once you impress them.

Time is of the essence.

Regards, TJ