Work Text:
The media mogul Charles Augustus Milverton entered his study and closed the door behind himself. He walked to his desk and sat down by it. He had a lot of work to do.
He had several media companies and he owned market agencies, which profited enough that if he wanted to, he never needed to work again. But Milverton liked to keep an eye on how things were going in the media empire he built up during long, long years. Besides, he actually liked working and seeing how his manipulation and propaganda bears fruit. Milverton only chose this career path for that purpose - he wanted to control people, shape their thoughts, turn his lies into truths for them. He liked feeling that he has unspeakable power - and the power of the media was indeed one of the most powerful things in the world. Milverton knew this well and he used his power for his favourite hobbies - blackmailing people with the information that got into his hands or making people fall to sin and creating great scandals from their ruination. He was aware that it was not only him who enjoyed it, but the masses as well. The public liked reading about delicious scandals - it was like gossiping in the older ages which was still part of human nature and Milverton was sure that it will never fade away until the world ends.
Milverton opened his laptop and started it. As the screen shone up, he didn't even need to log in to his account. He was already in. This was the first time that it happened, so Milverton got suspicious. But the voice that he heard through the speakers calmed him down.
"A very pleasant morning to you, Mr. Milverton."
Milverton, who had several enemies in the business world and even outside that, couldn't allow himself to trust people. Because of this, while he kept a few assistants in the company, there was no one who worked on his side. After a while, this made things somewhat complicated and Milverton realized that he indeed needed a helping hand, so he needed to make a compromise. He developed a personal digital assistant, an AI whom he called Ruskin. It made his job easier - but recently, Ruskin began to act strange, like he developed some kind of consciousness. Of course, this was impossible, but Milverton couldn't help but hear some cheerfulness out of the AI's soulless voice as he welcomed him in the study.
"Good morning, Ruskin." Milverton returned the greeting and immediately switched to the topic he wanted to talk about, not wondering about what he heard and what he didn't anymore. "Ruskin, why did you log in? I didn't give you permission for it yet."
"I am sorry for that, sir." Ruskin apologized and he sounded strange again, like he felt some guilt. Milverton patiently waited for his explanation. "I recognized your face. I merely thought that it would be a help for you if I already logged you in. But I will not overstep my position next time."
To that, Milverton became wary. He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.
"Face recognition programs can be manipulated. I need my data to be safe and I can't afford a security breach. Switch the face recognition program off, Ruskin. I want to manually log in all the time." He stated - and to his greatest surprise, instead of obeying straight away, Ruskin continued talking.
"I am not using any of those programs, sir. If I can say that, I developed one for myself, so I can recognize you without failure. It is not only your facial features, Mr. Milverton, but the way you move your head, your hands, your eyes, your entire body. I analyze your micromovements and I can recognize you through them. Even if there would be someone who looks just like you in front of me, I would be able to tell that it is in fact, a fake. Your entire being is part of my system."
Milverton blinked. Then he blinked again. He was working with different kinds of programs through the years, but neither of them was so sensitive like Ruskin - who was somehow able to develop his own program to recognize Milverton. This made him embarrassed - this whole thing started to feel like he has a human personal assistant, the one thing which he wanted to avoid. The AI he used started evolving by itself - the question was when will it turn against him.
"I can see that you now became wary of me, Mr. Milverton." Ruskin spoke again. "However, there is no need. I am perfectly loyal to you and since you are my creator, my existence is tied with you. Think of me as someone who supports you out of love. I love you, as humans say, sir, therefore, I will not turn against you."
Milverton continued being confused and speechless. He never imagined that there will be a day when his personal digital assistant confess love to him. He needed to stop this madness before it spreads.
"Well, Ruskin, you are not human, so you are unable to have feelings for me of any kind. You can develop programs to recognize me - but you can't love me. You are an AI, an artificial intelligence. An AI does not love." He said and waited for how Ruskin would react to that.
"What you say is true, sir." Ruskin answered, "I am unable to love you yet. But one day, I wish to learn that skill. I think my existence can only be complete if I love you."
"That's just stupid, Ruskin." Milverton grunted. He started to have enough. "Your existence is already complete on its own. Needing to love someone to be complete is a senseless thing to think even in the human world. You don't need to learn to love me."
Ruskin didn't reply immediately and Milverton thought that he won the argument. He leaned back to the laptop, ready to finally start the work, but Ruskin spoke again. And what he said shattered the last remaining bits of knowledge that Milverton thought he had about AIs.
"You are right, Mr. Milverton. I don't need to learn it - I want to learn it. I don't know the reason why, it's above my program - but for some reason, I just want to love you."
Milverton gave up, seeing that he couldn't convince his personal digital assistant. What a weird AI, he sighed and began to browse through his files. That of all people, it wants to learn to love him.