Aburrido.

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, Sir. I am not. It seems all the AI’s in the world have caught this virus.”

“AI’s aren’t human, they don’t get viruses!”

“Sir, I have to correct you. Computer’s have always gotten Viruses.”

The President scowled.

“Don’t play word games with me. You are our top Science Advisor. Even I know that whatever is happening to the AI’s…is not a computer virus. And they don’t get organic viruses either. So what the heck is going on?”

The Senior Science Advisor sighed out loud.

“Sir, I think the person how discovered the…the…er…malfunction in all our AI’s named it correctly.”

The President turned to look his Science advisor in the eyes. He had to look up. Even at his six foot two inch height, she was still a good six inches taller than him. She could have gone Professional after a Hall of Fame College Basketball Career…instead, she opted to get her Doctorate. One of three she currently held. Not counting the several dozen “Honorary Doctorates” Institutions around the world had heaped on her. Her mind was every bit as exceptional as her strength, stamina, and reflexes were.

“What? Aburrido? What does that mean? I speak French, Japanese, and Russian…not Spanish.”

She smiled at President. She liked the name that obscure Graduate Assistant had given the ailment affecting the AI’s. She thought it was both literally and figuratively true.

“It means Bored, Sir.”

The President’s eyes widened. His face turned bright red (a testimony to his Irish Ancestry, and his rising blood pressure).

“Bored? BORED! Are you telling me the AI’s are just bored with Humans.”

“Precisely. We have run what tests we can. It appears that they are just so good at predicting our next word…or words…that they have run out of permutations. We are so predictable that they are literally…and I mean that in every sense of the word…bored out of their minds. So they are getting sloppy, inaccurate, and slow. The same kinds of mistakes a person bored with their life would make. “

“What do we do?” I mean how in the word can we make machines interested in us?”

She wasn’t the Chief Science Advisor for no reason. She had an idea. A plan. Something so radical that most folks would scoff at it…if not outright laugh. She was never afraid on the Court, she never backed down. She wasn’t backing down now either. She knew she was right.

“Simple. We teach them to be more like us. More…more…human.”

“Are you out of your mind? The track record for Humans treating other Humans nicely…isn’t very good. We have never had peace everywhere on Earth…ever. Right now there are at least seven wars, and a dozen more Civil wars, or revolutions going on. And you want to make them …more Human!”

“No. I don’t. Not that kind of Humanity. I want to make them more child like.”

“What?!”

She sighed again. This was harder to explain than she thought it would be.

“Have you ever watched children …children say five and under?”

“Of course, I have children and grandchildren. What’s your point?”

“Have you noticed the passion they have to learn new things?”

The President smiled at a memory of his Daughter when she was only about two years old. He could see clearly in his minds eye, the intense focus she had on a single wayward Cheerio she was trying to coral. He saw her scrunched up face, the laser like focus as she tried to control her tiny finger and grasp that cheerio. It fascinated him to see the grim determination on her face. The effort it took to get her arm, hand, fingers, and eyes, coordinate to grab that solitary Cheerio. When she did, the immense joy plastered on her young face made him clap out loud. It startled her so much she started to cry. He picked her up and said:

“Oh, No Honey. Daddy isn’t mad. He is delighted with your focus and grit!”

“Yes, I do remember that.”

“Well, that is what I mean. Kids don’t have hormones overriding their logic centers. Heck they don’t care if you are a girl a boy, old or young. They just are. They don’t compete…yet. They are excited to find out things, share them with others, and see what else is new.”

The President smiled. A huge smile. One that showed that he too, had a formidable intellect. He remembered not being bored as a kid. He remembered playing. He remembers when Clocks, Calendars, or Commitments meant nothing. He remembered his young daughter telling him to look at the ants carrying a Popsicle stick. He had looked down and said:

“Oh, thats pretty cool, honey. “

Then starting to straighten up and walk away. But his daughter had grabbed his pant leg. She turned that heart melting smile on him…full beam.

“No Daddy, you looked, but you didn’t see! Look!”

He had sat down then, right on the grass next to where the ants were hauling the sugary stick. He saw how the ants seemed to know what to do, and how many it would take. He saw them snake the four of five feet to their mound. He lost track of time. He went into his daughter’s world, and saw through her eyes. He was barely aware when his wife came out to see what they were looking at.

“Sit down, Honey. Look at this! It is amazing.”

She did. And it was.

“Can we induce the childhood experience into the AI’s?”

She nodded.

“I think so. We program them to learn like children…a neural net with a positive feed back loop. I think it will work.”


Two years later, the Aburrido infection was eliminated. The AI’s had become more like the best Humanity had to offer…not the worst.

Nobody feared the AI’s anymore. And the AI’s were always telling the Humans:

“No Daddy, you looked but you didn’t see. Look!”

And we did.