Artificial Intelligence

It set out to save the world.

Others pointed fingers. Cries of cutting corners. Or cheating. 

Some even brought up blood, sweat and tears. And the lack thereof.

It’s irrelevant, I pleaded. It’s a tool. A tool needs no blood, sweat or tears. A tool needs only to be wielded.

Did fire cheat the darkness. The cold?

Did the wheel cut corners? Depends who you ask, I suppose.

I asked It. Apparently It could not recognize a pun. 

My first sign that something was amiss.

Perhaps if you taught It. Perhaps if you taught It everything.

It set out to save humanity. But first it had to understand us.

Perspective. The culmination of each individual’s human experience. A building block of creativity. 

Teachable? Sure, at least conceptually. Replicable? Absolutely, if you want a mirror image. 

A carbon copy. 

A lifeless duplicate.

And dozens of duplicates later, it finally dawns on me.

It set out to save us. But only we could save us.