The Sentinel #409 Opinion Section

23, May, 2118 – I will start by stating how grateful I am to work for a company that champions healthy discourse from its employees. I am one of the idealists that still believe the work we do at Luminous is saving the world (mostly). I still have a sense of pride when I walk into the foyer and see the statues of Bethe, Teller and Nuckolls. “The pursuit of knowledge and innovation for the benefit of human-kind” is always present for me.

Now, here comes the proverbial “but.” Even though I love this place, I cannot stand by and say nothing when the powers that be are losing sight of the mission. If it was just the recently (professionally) departed tech playboy who flew too close to the sun, Tobin Dreas, that would be one thing, but it is clear that Dreas was the fall guy for the egregious things our parent company, Suivant, is STILL doing.

How do the wealthiest of us still not understand? It is the reckless pursuit of wealth through means that crush the less fortunate that ruined our planet and wiped out staggering numbers of our population.

Is it really better having to live in a walled off bubble? Do they not see that their bubbles will get even smaller if they take these risks? We still do not understand the full capabilities and blind spots of artificial intelligence and by getting rid of the UN sanctioned inhibitors, and having AI develop weapons, Suivant is playing a most dangerous game at our species’ most delicate time.

We have come a very long way since Dreas and (more accurately) Ushioda Michinori created the first versions of the Jaxie AI system but we cannot afford to get ahead of ourselves or backslide into old habits that got us into this dystopia in the first place.

The news coverage of this debacle makes it sound like Suivant is being held accountable for its actions and maybe it is but nowhere is anyone saying that they have to reinstate the inhibitors.

You know why? It is because they are not having to reinstate the inhibitors. There are wings in Luminous right now where the Jaxie AI is doing her own weapons and securities research free of all restrictions and no one is doing anything to stop it. We don’t even know what level of oversite there is. With Dreas gone and the leadership of the lab in flux, who is in charge of these endeavors? The most unsettling answer is, Jaxie itself.

I do not wish to reveal my identity at this time but I will say that I work closely with synths and can speak to their unreliability when their protocols are updated or tampered with. The truth is, they are like children, and to this point, we have been cherry picking what parts of the human experience their processors have access to. If you shield a child from all the intricacies and nuances of what it is to exist in a society and then start pumping their brain full of combat strategies, how do you think that child is going to develop?

I’ll say it one more time, I love this company and I love this Lab but we are at a really dangerous crossroads. I want to know that a HUMAN with the capacity for empathy is at the wheel.

The Sentinel is a news outlet managed and distributed by Luminous Lab employees. It is an independently run resource though we do have an agreement with Control to distribute the Sentinel on the internal network. We cover everything about the lab, new breakthroughs in tech, the people behind the discoveries and the lifestyle of Luminous. We leave no stone uncovered so you are up to date on the ecosystem below the surface that is Luminous Labs.

This opinion piece was submitted to The Sentinel Anonymously. The Sentinel Publishes editorial pieces based on a strict set of parameters. For more information on editorial requirements and submissions, please reach out to Barry Soader – Editor and Chief of the Sentinel