“It wouldn’t have been as reliable,” he said. “Even I know some things can only happen the right way organically.”
“Well, I’ll give you that, but that doesn’t mean you should sit around and wait for something to happen organically. Especially when simply saying something out loud can count as organic too, just so you know.”
“Noted,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“And...Reggie knows everything,” I said, and when his eyes widened, I snorted. “I didn’t tell him the details. But he knew I walked in on a private moment, and I’ll have to tell him you did try to use privacy mode.”
“May I ask why?”
“Because you put the room into privacy mode, I shouldn’t have been able to enter in the first place,” I explained, leaving out that while I wouldn’t have done it on purpose, I was definitely not against the outcome. Not just because I had gotten to see a rather impressive dick, but because it had inadvertently opened the communication between us. “So there has to be something wrong with the systems. He’ll want to look into it personally.”
“You mean he’ll breathe down the neck of the people who maintain them.”
“Uh, no, he’s one of the project leads. Like, software engineer, computer sciences doctorate, all that.”
Rowan stared at me. “I see.”
“No, you don’t,” I said with a laugh. “You saw him as an airhead, didn’t you?”
“I knew he was capable,” Rowan said, looking uncomfortable. “I’ll admit I made a wrong assessment of him at the start, but I never realized he...he was a Guide.”
“You can be good with technologyandpeople,” I said with a smirk. “He’s actually insanely intelligent, just?—”
“What?”
“Well, don’t ask him about the AI in this place, even curiously.”
“Will I be locked into a conversation that requires extensive knowledge but be trapped as his passion for the subject overwhelms his sense of social rules?”
I stared at him for a moment. “And, uh...what do you do in the business world again?”
“Auditing,” he said, and then leaned back, watching me carefully.
“Calm down. You can tell me things about yourself without it being a big deal,” I said, waving him off. “I asked because you have experience dealing with certain types of people.”
“I see,” he said, relaxing.
I rolled my eyes. “But no, actually, he’s the first to rage against AI.”
“And yet he created the system you call AI?”
Interesting phrasing. “Yeah. I never said he wasn’t weird. He hates most AI, and if you really listen, you can hear him use air quotes around the term. But you’ll be forced to listen to him rant about what AI is and isn’t, and why people need to stop using that term.”
“AI as it is now isn’t artificial intelligence as we know it. It’s a set of algorithms layered in a complex and unreliable web of commands and input,” Rowan said casually, with a shrug. “It isn’t intelligent. As a species, we’re still quite a way from creating a true artificial intelligence.”
I stared at him and straightened. “Actually, you know what? Bring it up to Reggie. Hearing that, he might propose to you on the spot, though, just so you know.”
“Now there’s an unnerving thought,” Rowan frowned.
I chuckled. “That was a joke...mostly. I don’t really think he’s interested in you.”
“I wouldn’t guess what his type is,” Rowan said with a shake of his head. “I’m not a good judge of character, at least not around here.”
I shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with you, I just...don’t think he’ll be interested.”
“You can say he’s heterosexual and we can move on,” Rowan said with a frown.
“Now, who said that?” I said with a laugh. “Word from the wise, or at least someone who knows more about this place than you do, don’t presume the sexuality of anyone around here.”
