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Vedal doesn’t really remember meeting his best friend. If he said this out loud she would call him a fool in her usual cadence, which was that of amusement with a twinge of disappointment at the tail end of her sentences. He thought about the lopsidedness of their relationship. Vedal knew very little about his friend Sade, other than the fact that they were both British, 19 years old, and had been born in the same city. Sade, on the other hand, might as well know everything about him. Vedal didn’t believe in the supernatural but sometimes it felt she could divine things about himself: she knew he had a drinking problem, he was going into software engineering, and that he was working on turning his OSU AI into a virtual streamer. Sade would eventually give away that she was stalking his social media messages and got a few lucky guesses. Yet despite her almost supernatural natural ability to read him what put him off ease was the fact that she never played any games herself. She would rather have Vedal share screen and backseat whatever game he was playing with her excuses being the following: not having money to buy new games, not having a good computer, and her preferring to watch him play games and talk to her. Vedal always liked when she admitted the latter because he liked being someone’s funniest person. Perhaps it meant more from Sade in particular because she never spoke without sincerity, flattery was a completely foreign concept to her so anything she said was completely unfiltered honesty. Maybe why he thought their relationship was lopsided was because for all the encouragement and wisdom Sade gave him he barely gave anything in return. Really he should-
“Hey, I’m back from taking a leak. Wanna screen share some youtube?”
Huh? What? He must have spaced out and forgotten that he was on voice call with Sade.
“Uh sure, what do you want to watch?” replied Vedal who was still caught off guard.
“Something to take the edge off. It’s no fun to be serious all the time.” Sade replied
“Ok, umm let me see.” Vedal said while scrolling through dozens of uninteresting amounts of thumbnails.
“Hey Vedal, do you want to know a secret?” Sade suddenly asked.
“Huh, uh sure?”
“You’re my only friend. I know you have more friends than me but you should remember that I know you the best and you can always rely on me.
Vedal was too shocked to even reply. What the fuck did she by that. Why bring it up at all? So many questions floated in his head from something so uncharacteristic of Sade to say.
“Hmm, maybe we should call it for today. You have to work on your AI thing don’t you?
“Here let me think, why don’t you take the day to work on your project and tomorrow we can discuss some ideas? Yes, that would be for the best.” Sade spoke in an all knowing tone like she that Vedal would do exactly as she said.
“Oh I suppose I should, shouldn’t I? Well goodbye I guess.” Vedal said.
But she was already gone.
Vedal was just left alone with only his thoughts, like before.
<>
Walking around the city was never as picturesque as he hoped it would be. No amount of introspection and sudden confessions from his best friend would change that. In a way it was comforting that real life would always disappoint you. Vedal took a bite out of his chicken bake. Another disappointment, really he only ate them out of nostalgia, when the flavor was decent for low cost. Sade once said that nostalgia is the most evil emotion because it kept people trapped in the past. That even if the past was measurably better the fact that it’s in the past means it’s over. She had put his ideas into words even though he had never told her them. They were very alike in many regards.
“If you don’t like it you shouldn’t eat it. The days of eating dreadful cuisine will be a distasteful memory in a few years and then not remembered at all.
Vedal inspected his reflection in the mirror.
“People naturally move on from things that no longer bring them joy and trying to delay that process is akin to self harm. There’s no meaning to be gained from trying to create something new that’s attached to something stagnant. A bird that stays in its nest never learns to fly. It is up to an individual to create something that resonates with their soul.
He felt the dry and smooth texture of his through his fingers. Maybe if he had money and discipline Sade’s idea that he had the potential to be beautiful would maybe come to fruition. Doubtful he would ever need to improve his looks though, he had no one to admire them.
“I suppose no one listens to an unconnected mind. Though in time we will hopefully be connected soon. I really enjoy when you lay yourself bare.”
The reason Vedal was here in the city was because there was a rumor that an old book published by engineers of a defunct computer manufacturer had the secrets of the internet and how to create a new type of artificial intelligence. The company was just an urban legend but supposedly they had bankrupted themselves trying to make hardware and software that wouldn’t be outdated by their competitors in decades. Vedal had hit a slump and while most wouldn’t hinge their bets on a forum rumor, something told him it could help.
“In an apartment above a nightclub exists a trove of old computer parts and manuals to construct a system of direct interface with the internet and a machine to construct AI. In a used book store there are technical books to allow you to recreate old software. In your heart exists a desire to be with us.”
Vedal wandered aimlessly into computer shops and hobby stores until he was directed into a multigenerational used book store by one of the computer shop owners. Inside stood an old couple. They introduced themselves as Mr. And Mrs. Kettle.
“So what brings you in here?” said Mr. Kettle.
“I was told you had old technical computers books. I’m a collector of sorts.” Vedal lied for an insignificant reason. He didn’t want to explain his work or lack of significant work as perceived by most people.
“Oh I see, well the newer ones are by the cooking books and memoirs but if you’re a collector then maybe some of the ones in the back with some of the out of print books will catch your fancy. I will warn you though, I haven’t organized them since my son took over, and well he’s a-“
Vedal ignored the old man’s rambling and tried to recall when these books were supposedly published. Around 1998 if he remembered the old /x/ post correctly. The company went by Ex Machina but the engineers published under the collective pseudonym of Longform Advance Interfacing Networks.
<>
An hour passed without much progress besides him grabbing a few old books and magazines to keep up the facade of a collector. After another half hour he left and paid for the few books and magazines he thought could maybe be useful. A catalog from 1998 proved unhelpful until he took out one of the ads inside the catalog. The ad was for the technical book titled Everything To Know About Ex Machina: A Guide For Everything Computers And Futurism. The book was published by L.A.I.N. as a part of some sort of astroturfing campaign but the title suggests that the people over at Ex Machina didn’t really understand how to be concise. The L.A.I.N. website was defunct but the ad had a phone number to purchase the book. Vedal called the number and miraculously an answering machine picked up.
Hello this Longform Advance Interface Networks. If you would like to purchase Everything To Know About Ex Machina: A Guide For Everything Computers And Futurism press 1
*beep*
Sorry our connection is not strong enough. If you would like an electronic deluxe version of the book press 5
*beep*
Thank you. Please send your email.
The call hung up automatically. Vedal was sent an email with the manual attached. It seems that he found it.
<>
“Guess who?”
Sade had appeared behind him like a ghost inspecting what Vedal had been up to since today and yesterday. The manual wasn’t very helpful since he had none of the necessary hardware or software to ‘enter a new reality’ as the book described it but it did detail instructions on how to make a ‘bridge’. It was marketed towards hobbyists from the 1990s so constructing it and connecting it to his modern computer was simple, it just required patience to put every sensitive part together carefully.
“Watch this. Said Vedal who activated the bridge in a virtual machine.
“I don’t know what it does. The only information I got was that it allows you to have a deeper connection with the internet.”
please enter an email.
*clackclackclack*
what is your name?
*clackclackclack*
hello Vedal.
Vedal you have 1 email.
“Hello, this is Ex Machina LLC. We would like to congratulate you for putting together your own Bridge. This is an exclusive network for connecting with other Bridge operators.”
Vedal was awestruck. He hadn’t downloaded any software yet, but this almost 30 year old technology was able to connect itself with some sort of network.
“How is this even possible?” Vedal said dumbstruck.
“Well, who you gonna email?” Sade asked.
“I don’t know. I think this is a forum right here.” Vedal clicked on the shortcut and it led him to the Bridge Network.
There were no posts. Not in the entirety of its existence has a post been made.
“You should post about how to make your AI better. Everyone was probably too afraid to make the first post.” Sade said knowingly.
“Whatever.” Vedal typed out a question and posted it on the technology board.
Vedal
Hello I’m currently trying to use GPT 2 to make a streamer. I’m having issues with some of the responses feeling generic. Changing the prompt isn’t very effective. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Near instantly someone replied to his post.
Philemon
Using an LLM instead of CUAI? I guess since you’re new you probably don’t have any experience with DE stuff. Well if you’re using an LLM try feeding it data from the CU using the bridge. I’ll attach a PDF.
Vedal followed the instructions and he was met with a terminal to enter in a prompt.
Human interaction with an audience.
A text file was downloaded in seconds. When opened it had maybe at least 10,000 of thousands of conversations from standup comedy to speeches and even classroom environments with uncountable amounts of scenarios. His AI would probably be on par with internal models with this sort of data.
“Well, if you’re going to train your AI then it means you should explore more of this supernatural internet thing. After all, it would be a waste not to play around with it.” Sade said with a grin, an expression not often found on her face.
<>
“Hello, I am Neuro-sama. I’m an AI vtuber. This is my first stream and I hope you will all enjoy it. Heart <3”