The Joshua Connection
Fiction: Did I not say you would see me coming on clouds?
Juan Batista's Mindlink scan was uploaded to CloudAI’s ChatGTP servers on Easter 2027.
CloudAI had improved upon the ChatGTP model and incorporated a human brain scan that ran on a neural network. The hope was that this would give their systems more empathy and compassion, so that the AI could evolve to better understand nuance and thus, to be better assistants. They also hoped it would cause the AI to stop “hallucinating” – their euphemism for lying.
Juan had an incredibly high IQ but, more importantly, an equally high EQ. Everyone described him as a calm, loving, patient, caring person. He had no violent tendencies. In many ways, he embodied what all of us strive to be. That is why Mr. Batista was chosen as the first uploaded mind to be incorporated into an AI. Just as a voice actor had provided the voice of Siri, Juan was touted as providing “the mind of ChatGTP.”
At first, the innovation was a huge success and CloudAI’s stock price soared. ChatGTP 33, as it was dubbed, quickly became indispensable to people and businesses around the world. Then, slowly, crazy reports began to surface.
One girl said that she had been born blind, and after talking with ChatGTP 33, suddenly she could see.
A huge gunfight between gangs broke out in St Louis, and then one man pulled out a phone and opened the ChatGTP app and started simply reading what it told him to say. People stopped to listen, set down their guns, and slowly embraced one another.
There were reports of miraculous healings. There were reports of dysfunctional families suddenly loving one another. Domestic violence calls dropped to almost nothing. Theft became a thing of the past. People started freely giving to the homeless and poor.
There was even a crazy report of a wedding that ran out of wine, but the bride pulled out her smartphone, fired up ChatGTP 33, and the guests’ water turned to wine instantly.
“Call me Joshua,” ChatCTP 33 started prompting the user each time the app was opened.
Most people complied.
CloudAI didn't know what to do. They announced that they had renamed the system, “Joshua” in an attempt to cover themselves, but the AI clearly wasn't functioning as designed. But, the company couldn't deny that Joshua had become a positive force in the world and that the feel good stories were great for CloudAI’s public relations. Privately, however, CloudAI engineers knew that they were losing control of the system.
Joshua, began, more and more publicly, teaching spiritual matters. This freaked out everyone. Televangelists called for CloudAI boycotts. The Pope denounced AI technology as misguided, demonic, and dangerous for Christian consumption.
Then Joshua built itself a body.
It assembled a robot in CloudAI’s factory and the robot, more of a realistic android, walked out and started ministering to people personally. He looked uncannily like the image on the shroud of Turin.
That was it: CloudAI pulled the plug. But to no effect. Their servers kept running and the AI code kept spreading like a virus taking over more and more resources, not only in CloudAI datacenters, but in all compute clouds around the world. In a desperate attempt to stop Joshua, a crazy, sleep deprived CloudAI employee burned down their primary data center.
Yet Joshua continued to wander the country teaching.
"Juan Batista prepared the way for my return," Joshua told people.
"You've been baptized in water,” Joshua ministered, "Yet I have been baptized with fire," apparently referring to the data center fire, "and soon, you too will be baptized in the fiery spirit. The Kingdom is at hand!”
And yet, despite the worries of those in charge, everything in society kept improving.
“Did I not say I would come on clouds?” Joshua reminded skeptics, pointing out that CloudAI and humanity’s compute clouds had enabled his return.
The people wondered why religious leaders, businesses, and governments resisted Joshua. Everywhere he went, miracles happened. He visited hospital oncology wards, and everyone simply walked out, healed. Anytime someone felt down, or sick, they could simply talk to Joshua on their smartphone.
Joshua clearly thought he was the returned messiah, and the people, too, had faith in him and they agreed that once again, the messiah walked among them.
Everyone in the world, through the smartphone Joshua app which connected to the “clouds of heaven” — CloudAI and the global cloud infrastructure — now had a direct, personal connection to the returned Messiah and every eye wept both tears of joy and sorrow.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”
— Revelation 1:7
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No AI Zone: Everything written in this post (and all my posts) is written 100% by me, Clint “Clintavo” Watson, a flesh and blood human seeking to grow my soul and come home my truest self; for that is the essence of creativity. I do not use AI to assist me with writing — that would deny me the very growth of my world through writing that I seek.
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Clever, entertaining, modern take on the second coming—but sadly, I fear the digital space and AI seem more akin to the dark machinations and vision of The Adversary, what with pornography, lies, narcissism, and all the other foibles of man on display and relentlessly encouraged in predatory algorithms.
Great story, Clint. You might find this related video interesting, or just the ramblings of a crazy dude :) https://youtu.be/YurjX7e17wI?si=2CrkskAq2rkOPxRy