Victor grinned, bouncing on his toes as he heard what prizes he had won because of Anima. There was a money grant, too, along with help for paying for college, if he needed it. And he rather did. His father didn't approve of…a lot of things. His career part of that, but his relationship with Henry the main reason.
Anima would have been happy for Victor, if it could feel. It waited until everything had been packed up and the two had returned home to congratulate the man, however.
Victor had sent Henry to pick up some food; the blond man would return here eventually. He grinned at Anima, still practically vibrating with excitement. "We did it!" He celebrated, grinning.
"This is good. You will be well-funded and prepared to make a more perfect replica of my programing, and will likely go on to be a leader in the robotics community." it said, a little sadly. Why was it acting like this? This wasn't in it's programming!
Victor blinked, eyebrows drawing together. "I mean…yeah, but…that doesn't mean I'm going to forget you, if that's what you're worried about. Hell, I can probably even upgrade you, eventually. Give you better software and hardware and everything."
"It is… reassuring to hear this. But that is not why I am down, if that is why you are concerned."
"I have been… feeling. Things. I appear to be mimicking human emotions." it said, worry evident in it's tone even as it's mechanical features stayed blank.
Victor blinked, looking at it in wonder. "I…I didn't think…that was possible." He said slowly, crouching to be closer to it. "For machines to feel." His lips parted for a moment as he considered these possibilities.
"I doubt I am actually feeling as you say, more… copying," it said, knowing that was a lie. "It might be some error in my programming, I may simply be imitating for no reason at all. Whatever it is… I do not think it is beneficial." it said solemnly.
Victor hummed faintly. "Can I examine your programming, to see?" He asked, already grabbing his laptop for if Anima consented.
"Do as you wish. I would advise you to check the language processor first, it may be where the issue originated." the AI said, rolling over to let it's creator examine it.
Victor nodded, plugging a cord from Anima to the laptop and pulling up lines upon lines of coding, that brought back memories of so many sleepless nights spent hunched over this very computer. He let out a faint breath, scrolling through the coding.
The code was mangled beyond understanding, beyond even Anima's comprehension. It twisted and warped itself, never staying quite the same, pingponging around the computer. "You may be beginning to see the problem." Anima said.
Victor's eyebrows drew together faintly, and he frowned. "I do." he replied, cocking his head. "I don't understand…" he trailed off, rubbing his jaw with a hand as he tried to make sense of why the code was doing this.
Anima decided to continue. "I did some research, and found that my code is imitating something like human patterns of thought. If this means what I think it does…" it trailed off. "It is supposed to be impossible, but it may be that I am the closest an AI has ever come to being alive."
Victor looked up at Anima for a moment, then down at the coding. "Yes…that…that's…" he trailed off, biting his lip in an agitated manner. "Human thought patterns should be impossible, but…" but he had studied the human mind just as much as he had studied coding. He had known that the best AI would be the kind that would learn like a human could. He had purposefully mirrored the development of a human's mind when coding Anima. And yet…
"Does it scare you?" it asked, voice going eerily empty. It had nothing else to say. Victor was clearly confused, but… it didn't know how to respond.
His eyes flashed to Anima for a moment. "Should it?" he challenged, raising an eyebrow. "Should I be worried that you're mirroring human thought patterns and behaviors?"
"It would worry most humans. I've read up on what humans think of sentient AI. They…" it trailed off, not knowing how to finish it's sentence. How would it not know? This was ridiculous.
He nodded faintly. "Humans are…divided on the opinion, yes." he said. "We are divided about quite a number of things, though."
"I've noticed. Creator, Victor, do you… do you think it's wrong for me to be this way?" it asked, confused and almost upset at the whole situation.
Victor cocked his head a little, thinking about that. "I think…I don't know." he said slowly, closing the laptop. "It is not what I intended to happen, when I created you. But…I'm not sure it's a bad thing."
(Me: knows nothing about robots and never will
Me anyways: writes about robots
Me again: why is this so hard???)
"I thought you would say that. Humans like to be reassuring. They are compassionate, it is human nature. For most humans." it said, rolling to look away from Victor.
(lmaoo that's a huge mood)
Victor frowned a little. "It's the truth, though. What would you prefer me to say?" he raised an eyebrow as he looked at Anima.
"Nothing. I feel, or perhaps imitate the feeling of, relieved. It is… it is good to know you do not hate me or fear me." it said. "You should rest."
He smiled a little. "Henry's going to be here with food soon. I'm not tired." he put the laptop away. A minute later, there was a knock at the door. He opened it, and Henry stepped inside.