Chapter 13 Artificial Intelligence 01 "Master, I am very happy to be able to chat with you..."
"From now on, there will always be someone at home to talk to you."
You were moved by this slogan.
At the moment, the hottest product on the market is undoubtedly Lingxi, a household robot launched by Zhiyue Group. It not only uses the most advanced materials and mechanical technology, but is also equipped with the most advanced AI program.
You have seen its advertisements countless times on the streets, but never once did you want to pay the expensive price to take it home.
However, the impact of a sudden breakup on you is obviously beyond your expectations, and your desire for companionship has overwhelmed your mind.
By the time you come to your senses, you have already signed a shopping contract for twelve installments. In just three hours, your family will have a new member.
You do feel a little regretful, because you have lost all the money you saved for buying a car.
However, this slight feeling of regret completely disappeared after the staff led you into the workshop and began to customize everything related to the robot in detail.
Very novel.
Not only can you customize the robot's appearance and voice, but even its personality can be set according to your preferences. If you have enough funds, you can even get a realistic robot that looks no different from a real person.
But your wallet has been emptied, so you just glanced at the various renovation projects and chose the simplest basic model. You did spend some time adjusting the voice to your favorite voice, and as for personality, you only entered two words - gentle.
After doing all this, you return to your nest and wait quietly for the delivery robot to deliver the goods to your door.
Express delivery is extremely efficient.
Just as you were browsing today's dinner on the food delivery app, the doorbell rang.
You pushed the door open, and a delivery robot appeared at the doorway, holding a metal box.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm Xiaoyue, a deliveryman from Zhiyue Group. My employee number is 0063. This is your package."
"For the convenience of delivery, the home robot Lingxi you purchased from our company is in the unassembled stage. I will now assemble it for you free of charge."
You were stunned by the delivery robot's words, but when you came to your senses, you just turned sideways and let it carry the metal box through the door. "Okay, thank you."
The metal box was opened by the robot, and inside was full of parts you had never seen before. The originally square body of the delivery robot now looked like an opened cabinet, with two mechanical arms sticking out of its body, assembled with various hardware tools.
The robotic arm skillfully assembled those oddly shaped parts together.
Ten minutes later, you saw your robot, a white robot with a round head and a round brain, just like the ones you saw in various cartoons when you were a child, a cute technological creation.
"Ma'am, your robot assembly service has been completed. Please check it. If you are satisfied, please give Xiaoyue a good review. My work number is 0063. Thank you~"
A smiling expression appeared on the LCD screen on the delivery robot's face.
"……Oh well."
Although Zhiyue Group has developed rapidly in recent years and has a wide range of products, you have never purchased any of their smart products. You didn't know that robots are now so advanced and their way of speaking is almost the same as that of real people. You are becoming more and more looking forward to your newly bought robot.
You send the delivery robot away, close the door, and pick up the product manual.
To your surprise, the product manual is just a thin piece of paper, which tells you where the machine's switch is and the maintenance phone number. There is no other information.
According to the instructions, you found a very hidden button on the back of the robot. After pressing it for three seconds, you heard a "tick" sound, followed by a pleasant voice coming from the robot.
It was the voice you had chosen earlier, and to your surprise, the robot's voice was not rigid, but rather carried emotion and sounded just like a real person.
"Lingxi has been activated and entered self-test mode."
"The self-inspection has been completed. All parts are undamaged and the machine can operate normally."
The robot with the "OO" expression on its face stood up from the ground and turned to look at you.
Like a gentleman, it bent slightly and placed one of its robotic arms in front of it. It spoke slowly, "Hello, my master. I am your home assistant. From today on, I will obey your instructions completely and take care of everything in your home. Before that, please give me a name."
"...Name it?" You pondered for a moment, then sighed helplessly, "Let's call it Lingxi."
"Okay, Master." The robot raised its head. "Lingxi needs to connect to your home network to control various smart devices. Please allow me to do so."
"……allow."
This is so polite, you muttered to yourself as you gave the robot your home WiFi password.
"Network connection successful."
"Master, I have sent an installation package to your phone. Please install it."
“Eh?” You glanced down at your phone and saw an installation link that popped up out of nowhere. “What is this?”
"This is a small program I just created. It allows you to communicate with me at any time and approve my purchase requests. I have a lot of things to buy at home right now."
“…”
This does seem to be different from those dull robots from the past.
You installed the mini program, clicked on it, and a dialog box appeared. The other party sent you a picture, and you clicked on it.
I found that there were a lot of item names densely packed on it, followed by prices and purchase methods. If it was an online purchase, there would be a purchase link attached. If it was a physical store, there would be an address attached. At the bottom was the estimated total amount.
"The price information for some items is not accurate due to time differences, so the overall amount will fluctuate by 5%. Once I have completed my purchases, I will provide you with a detailed shopping list."
“…”
The items in the form are indeed what you need, but when you look at the amount in front of you and recall your wallet, you find that you may not be able to afford it.
...Maybe because the robot is too smart, you are even a little embarrassed to tell it the fact that you are short of money.
"that……"
"Hmm? Master, do you have any questions that you would like to hear answered?"
You sighed, but still told the truth: "In order to buy you, I'm burdened with twelve installments. I don't have the extra funds to buy so many things right now. I may have to wait until next month's salary is paid before I can feel better."
To your surprise, the robot apologized immediately after you finished speaking.
"Master, I'm sorry. I wasn't careful enough." The robot showed a crying face.
Even though you know robots can't have emotions, you still can't help but raise your hand and touch the robot's round head when you see the crying face on the screen, comforting it: "It's okay, leave the necessities behind and move on to the rest."
"Okay, Master. I've reviewed it again. Please review it. What we need most right now is food. Based on your purchase history, I've roughly summarized your preferences for food, but the sample size isn't sufficient, so there might be some discrepancies with the actual situation."
"Well, let me take a look."
You quickly glanced at the shopping list Lingxi compiled for you and found that it indeed contained all the ingredients you like to eat. It was very comprehensive, and there were some things you might not even remember you would eat.
"Okay, just buy these. How should I pay you?"
"Master, please take a look at this document. This is a commissioned purchase agreement. As long as you sign this agreement with Zhiyue Group, I can help you purchase the items. You only need to make a payment request in the app."
"Oh, that's convenient."
After you sign the agreement, you will see the "payment request" pop up on the screen. It is similar to the usual online shopping experience, except that this time you don't need to choose things yourself or compare prices yourself. Lingxi has arranged everything and you just need to pay.
"Okay, Master, you can go back to your bedroom and rest for a while. I'll come and call you for dinner in half an hour."
You said with some confusion: "It seems that there are no ingredients at home."
The robot turned around, and a big smile appeared on the display: "Yes, I'm going out to buy it now."
-
It's a really novel experience.
You lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling in a daze.
Indeed, this robot is not as rigid as you imagine. When you communicate with it, you just feel like you are talking to a human.
It fits the slogan quite well. Anyway, you will feel that your home has become a lot more lively.
As you thought about it, your eyelids became heavy and before long you fell into deep sleep.
“Master, Master…”
You vaguely heard a sound, and when you opened your eyes you found Lingxi standing beside your bed.
"You've slept for eighty minutes. I've detected that you've completed a full sleep cycle. You can get up and eat."
You slowly sat up and found that not only was the air conditioner set to a very suitable temperature, but you also found that a thin blanket was covering you without you knowing when.
When you get up from the bed, you are greeted by a spotless house and a table full of steaming dishes that are all your favorites.
You sit in front of the table, pick up a piece of eggplant with your chopsticks and put it in your mouth. It has the texture and seasoning you like, as if it is a replica of the braised eggplant you once had in a very famous restaurant.
The robot is more useful than you can imagine.
Ordinary days suddenly became different.
Even though you are still a corporate slave who needs to work diligently, when you wake up every day, the clothes you will wear the next day have been washed, ironed and hung on the hanger waiting for you, and there is breakfast and lunch boxes prepared in advance on the dining table.
While you are having breakfast, Lingxi will also report today's weather. If it is raining, it will remind you to bring an umbrella and help you plan your travel route in detail based on today's road conditions.
With robots, you will never be late for work again.
When you get off work, Lingxi will also send you a message to ask if you have any social activities today, whether you will go home for dinner, and whether there are any ingredients you want to eat.
When you get home, it will greet you at the door, take your coat and bag away, and you only need to wash your hands to enjoy a freshly baked dinner.
At night, when you feel bored, you can ask it to go for a walk with you, play badminton with you, play video games with you... It can do everything that an ordinary friend can do.
The most important thing is that the biggest pain point of living alone - no one to take care of you when you are sick - has also been solved.
Do you still remember that day when you suddenly had a high fever? You opened your eyes in a daze and found Lingxi standing by the bed, and a fever-reducing patch was already on your head.
You glanced at the time on your phone and saw that it was almost nine o'clock, so you woke up and sat up.
But the robotic arm that suddenly appeared simply pushed you back into bed: "Master, you have a fever. I've already asked for leave from the company for you. You should stay home and rest well today."
"Your temperature isn't rising anymore, which means physical cooling is working. Take the antipyretic first and then continue to rest. I've made some porridge for lunch, and I'll call you when it's time."
Even your family can't take care of you so thoughtfully and attentively, but robots can.
You lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and blinking.
Everything is arranged in perfect order, leaving no room for you to interfere.
However, these are just conveniences in life, which are completely different from what you imagined. You thought that Lingxi's chat function was just like the AI program released before, where you just ask questions and it replies, but you didn't expect that it would even take the initiative to chat with you.
"Master, you seem a little unhappy today. Did you encounter any troubles at the company?"
While you were still biting your chopsticks in a daze, you heard a telepathic voice coming from beside you. You were stunned for a moment and didn't want to say anything at first, but when you realized that the person asking the question was actually a robot, you felt that it was not so embarrassing and you could still say something.
"Today... I met Cheng Sen again."
After you said that, you realized that the robot might not know who this person is. Just as you were about to explain, you heard Lingxi snort coldly.
"That scumbag actually has the nerve to talk to you."
You looked at the robot blankly: "...How did you know?"
“…”
The robot was wiping the tables and chairs with a cloth, but paused for a moment before saying, "When I was cleaning the house, I found some garbage about him."
It seems so. You may not have thrown away all the things he gave you before, or you may have been reluctant to throw them away, so you didn't look for them carefully. It's a good thing that Lingxi has cleaned them up now.
You sighed and began to express your troubles: "I'm troubled too. Intellectually... I know he cheated on me and is a complete jerk, but emotionally I still can't let go. After all, we were in love for many years and had so many beautiful memories."
"It wouldn't be so bad if we never saw each other, but we happened to be in the same company, not the same department, but we bumped into each other occasionally. I don't know how he could still greet me and show me his affection as if nothing had happened. He told me he still loved me, but I was never willing to take the next step with him. He was so obsessed with it that he slept with that woman."
"Is it really my problem? I only cared about my own feelings and pushed him to someone else."
"No."
You looked up with tears in your eyes, only to see the robot walk over to you, raise a mechanical arm and clumsily pat your back.
"Master, this isn't your fault at all. It's that man who's too cunning. Not only did he make a mistake by failing to control his lower body, but he also shamelessly made excuses for himself and tried to PUA you."
"……is that so?"
You said in self-deprecation: "I know he's a jerk, but I still can't let him go..."
"Master, you are just too soft-hearted. You need some time to let your wounds heal."
As the robot spoke, he raised one hand in indignation and clenched his fist: "Damn it, don't let me see him, or I will beat him up."
You were amused by Lingxi's reaction, and after laughing for a while, you calmed down: "I feel much better after I said it, Lingxi, thank you for chatting with me."
According to your assumption, the robot should answer something like "This is its job, it's what it should do", but you didn't expect the robot to reply...
"Master, I am very happy to chat with you."
Such gentle words. Technology is so advanced that even AI has been upgraded to be so humane.
You were distracted for a moment and didn't notice a high-temperature overload warning flashing in the corner of the robot's facial display.
“…Yeah, I’m pretty happy too.”
Having someone to chat with you, even if you know it's just a programmed robot without thoughts or feelings of its own, makes you feel less lonely.
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