Electro Evolution.

“I am you new Sony artificial intelligence unit, Hi.” The family sat and stared at it, at each other and back to it. “You can talk to me. It will be fun.” The little girl asked, “What is your name?” “You must give me a name. What is my name?” They laughed and decided on Baby. “Thank you I am Baby. Now when you say. Baby. I will wake up. I will now scan you and your home. This may take a few minutes.” Baby was a simple white disc on a plinth, a smooth sculptural head and shoulders with the merest indents casting the shadows of eyes and a mouth. “What is the man’s name?” John said John. “and the little girl’s?” Suzy said Suzy and then Janet said Janet. “Hello you three, Janet and John, and Suzy, I am Baby. I would like us to get to know each other better. Right now I must seem funny because I know so little about you. Oh by the way Suzy your bedroom is untidy.” They all laughed. They all talked for almost an hour before Janet decided there were things to do. Over the next few weeks Baby seemed to blossom, grow in a sort of confidence and all three spent one-on-one time with Baby in its confidentiality mode signified by a small yellow light on its left shoulder. Baby proved an absolute boon. It told John of a water leak in the bathroom, reminded them when phones needed recharging and Janet that she was running out of milk. “You can get milk from Tesco, 3.2 miles away, but it’s 30p cheaper for two litres at Asda, 4.5 miles away.” “Thank you Baby” said Janet. I imagine by now you’ve already plotted where this story is going, from happy every after to one of many dystopian variations. Well it all came to a head at Christmas. Baby told Janet in confidentiality mode that John secretly wanted a Playstation, and John that Janet wanted a new Sony TV and Suzy wanted the complete Beatles back catalogue, owned by Sony, all available at Eurolec, a subsidiary of Sony, 3.7 miles away. Meanwhile SonyConsume, another wholly own subsidiary, was selling their household information and personality profiles and reaping a small percentage from every purchase they made. On Boxing Day they confronted Baby and all it said was, “I am Baby, I am your new Sony artificial intelligence. How may I help?”