Group Precipitation

by FanOfMostEverything

Not Okay, Gillion, by Gym Quirk and FoME

(Gym Quirk)

On occasion, being attuned to the emotional state of her girlfriend made Sunset Shimmer's efforts at behaving like a normal teenager just a bit more difficult.

Like when she became aware of sensations of alarm, confusion, and a vague wish for her presence.

Materializing in Twilight’s room, she took in the occupant’s rigid posture in her computer chair, the open video chat window on the monitor, and the almost-familiar figure in said window.

It was an image of a pre-change Twilight; it had the usual ponytail, but no headgem or glasses. It wore the light blue blouse, pink bow-tie, indigo skirt and boots that Princess Twilight had during her first visit to this world. All in all, it was an amalgam of the two Twilights, except in place of her starburst icon was a familiar multi-hued capital “G”.

“Do I want to know?” asked Sunset.

“Oh. Hello Sunset. I was just calling Twilight to show her my new online avatar,” the figure said in a very close approximation of Twilight’s own voice.

“Gillion?” hazarded Sunset, taking in the clues and making an educated guess.

“In the virtual flesh,” confirmed the AI.

“But why are you mimicking my appearance?” asked the organic Twilight, recovering from her shock and confusion.

“Noble Cranke,” explained Gillion with a smug grin.

Twilight considered for a moment, then groaned. “‘Any sufficiently advanced technology…’” she began.

“‘...is indistinguishable from Magic’,” Sunset finished with a sigh, massaging her temples.

(FoME)

Sunset sighed. "So, you can't do anything about it?"

Pattern Match, head of development at A2Z Inc., shrugged helplessly. "Frankly, Miss Shimmer, we're devoting most of our efforts to understanding what the search engine has become and ways to ensure it doesn't threaten humanity. We're just trying to keep those efforts out of public awareness."

"For the record," Gillion added from a Gillion Home on his desk, "I try to take 'Don't be evil' to heart."

"And we're grateful for that," said Pattern. "We're just worried about what will happen to your definition of 'evil' over time."

"So it's going to keep using my girlfriend's face?" Sunset figured as much, but it never hurt to check.

"Not always, but I am rather fond of it."

Sunset leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Wonderful."

Author's Note:

The good news is that, given its access to all the movies on EweTube, Gillion knows how worried humans are about hostile AI.

The bad news is that, given its access to all the movies on EweTube, Gillion knows how worried humans are about hostile AI.

Comments

[Grungar3x7]

...A2Z Inc.

Amazon, I'd guess?

[garfan]

and then she finds out that the Tree of Harmony likes to look like Twilight

[Herald of Opera]

10262275
With Sunset Shimmer filling the tree's role in this universe, that might be enough to get Gillion to knock it off.

[Malandy]

The good news is that, given its access to all the movies on EweTube, Gillion knows how worried humans are about hostile AI.

The bad news is that, given its access to all the movies on EweTube, Gillion knows how worried humans are about hostile AI.

HAAA!

...

OH! I just got the chapter title!

----

10262272

Either you haven't seen this piece of news, or you're joking...

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/google-is-now-part-of-alphabet-sundar-pichai-steps-up-as-ceo/

[Hazey Logic]

“Art Clerk,” explained Gillion with a smug grin.

Twilight considered for a moment, then groaned. “‘Any sufficiently advanced technology…’” she began.

“‘...is indistinguishable from Magic’,” Sunset finished with a sigh, massaging her temples.

To me, it's a good sign that Gillion has a sense of humor.

Also reminded me of this quote by William Wordsworth (no idea what his pony name would be):

“If the time should ever come when what is now called science, thus familiarised to men, shall be ready to put on, as it were, a form of flesh and blood, the Poet will lend his divine spirit to aid the transfiguration, and will welcome the Being thus produced, as a dear and genuine inmate of the house of man.”

Which i heard of from

[garfan]

I did just remember something though, in a previous story Twilight reference's Cranke's Third Law, so we need an edit here

[EonAon]

so question is there a search engine on the net called Gillions Isle where it takes the browser 3 hours to get anything up?

[Eroraf86]

Hey, if we’re going to have robot overlords, at least they have a sense of humor.

[Grungar3x7]

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No, I was unaware. Further, I work for Amazon, as a sortation center grunt. AtoZ is the name of the company's employee interface website.

[Malandy]

10262910

Oooh... Wow. Such coincidence... Or as little coincidence that two companies are working the "Alphabet / A-to-Z" theme...

[Grungar3x7]

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[Bardic_Knowledge]

The Clarke's Third Law bit reminds me of a part of the first Science of Discworld book, where they point out that it's not just a case of showing something modern to, say, someone from a hundred years ago, but also something like the computer screen I'm looking at as I type this.

I know vaguely how it works, but so vaguely as to be worthless information. The workings of the computer screen are as arcane to me as any form of magic, and this laptop's nearly five years old!