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We know more about A.I. namely Mika, Ash, and Roz because they tell us what they like.

Ash likes band shirts and records; Mika likes historical replicas and small precious things; Roz enjoys bright colors.

Well, Roz is an A.I., and also simultaneously a corporate email help-desk, Mika’s friend, and a forklift, because like many of our real-world A.I.s, she’s a network made up of a few physical devices (phones and robots) and an unknown number of distributed digital programs.

These systems are intended to be low-bias statistical processors, like “There is a 70 percent chance that is a green polo shirt.”

At the same time, they don’t know what “green” or “polo” is, or even what a “shirt” is for. (You can even build them!) There are only four ways to hook up such a simple configuration, and each has a different personality based on its relationship with light: “Love” would drive toward a light source and stay there forever, “Hate” would charge through the light into the darkness, “Fear” would steer away from any light, and “Curiosity” would approach a light only to veer off in search of new lights. 

We develop sentimental relationships with the objects in our lives because they become entangled with our experiences, our relationships, our memories, and our values. ​

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