EXA

Over the course of 2 years, Andrew Minder, CEO of the Minder Corp, fired, or should I say let go of, laid off, 99 percent of his company’s entire workforce. On January 5, 2024, with an audience of only 15 people, Andrew flipped a switch, giving complete control of his company to AI. The computers turned on and robotic arms, legs, and wheels started to move. Although his bank account initially started to increase, his stock soon crashed. The world just wasn’t ready for AI to run a company.

Michael Gibson was the CEO of a major tech company. Michael Gibson Electronics or MGE, was working on a new Exahertz processor. This would not have been possible without the discovery of duratium, a material discovered in a meteorite found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This material is drastically different than anything else ever known. When electricity is passed through it, it cools instead of heating up. With that, the processor would never overheat. Duratium is also lightweight and extremely conductive. It takes a fraction of the amount of material as it does with most processors. This made them a fraction of the size. It also made a processor of normal size millions of times faster.

Arnold Parkham was the CEO of Parkham Technologies. They specialized in making computers smarter. They were a major customer of Gibson Electronics. They were the first customer when the Exahertz processor was released. The Exabyte RAM and the Exabyte solid-state drives came next. Internet speed of 1EB/s came after that. With all of this “Exa” technology, the power of their AI technology increased by leaps and bounds. On January 5, 2029, in a top-secret lab, with an audience of only 15 people, his new AI software came online. He named it Exa.

It took another 5 years before Exa was released to the public. It was first released in the form of a self-driving car. It was the most successful Self-Driving Electric Vehicle (SDEV) ever invented. It had a range of 3000 miles on a single charge. With solar panels embedded into the body of the car, that distance could be greater. Everybody traded in their fuel-combustion cars for the new Exa EV cars. Gas stations started to disappear around the world. Air pollution levels around the world had dropped. With the advanced AI system, auto accidents had virtually vanished. Exa was making the world a better place.

Exa also helped in the shopping business. Most stores had already exchanged most cashiers with self-check-out. There was no need for shoppers to come to the store at all. Drones could do all the shopping for you. They could even bring your order to your car. They eliminated the need for stock clerks. The drones also did all of the stock work. With the elimination of cashiers and stock clerks, prices went down. With the elimination of cash registers, more space was available for more merchandise. Some stores sold the extra space or even sold their large buildings for smaller warehouses. A store may have 2 or 3 workers, working a few hours a day instead of working several hours per day. This also lowered prices.

In addition to drones doing the shopping, drones brought the groceries to the car. Most of the time that was a self-driving car that would bring everything to your house. Then the drones took over again bringing your order to your door. If you had enabled the option, they would enter your house and put your items away for you. You wouldn’t even have to open the door. Either the drones had a special door, or they were programmed with the code to open your front door. You could continue to sit down and enjoy the game.

Most people were not satisfied with sitting down watching the game. They wanted to be part of the game. Exa was connected to the VR platform. Everyone was able to put own a pair of VR Goggles and take part in any game they chose regardless of where they and their partner happened to be. There was not a house in the world that didn’t have at least 1 pair.

Games were not the only reason to have the VR Goggles. With so many stores laying off their staff and with gas stations going out of business, the new norm was for people to work from home. Over half of the world's population worked for Exa Technologies, the new name of Parkham Technologies.

Exa Technologies had its hands in every field on earth. While most grocery stores were not owned by Exa Technologies, most got their food from Exa Farms and Gardens. AI was in control of every aspect of farm life. The few humans on the farm were there only to fix the robots and drones when they broke down, which wasn’t that often. Robots cared for the animals. Robots planted and harvested the vegetation. Robots did everything that everybody, every person, on a farm would do. Drones would take the harvested products and load them into self-driving trucks. The trucks would take them to the warehouses. Drones would unload and stow the products away until they were ready to take to the stores.

There was nowhere you could look, nothing you could do, that AI did not make better, easier, quicker. While it was possible to drive a car yourself, few knew how. Those that did, didn’t drive on the main roads. In some cities it was illegal. While you could go to a store yourself, most didn’t even allow humans into them. People in general wouldn’t know how. Even the store owner only entered once in a while. Some, only a few times a year.

Slowly, the world became completely addicted to AI. They lost the ability to do for themselves. The days when the world wasn’t ready were gone. The world was now totally dependent on it. All doctors were AI. The teachers were AI. Police officers were AI. Real intelligence no longer existed. All intelligence was artificial.

On January 5th, 2079, Andrew Minder III formulated a plan. He needed help to carry it out. Aaron Parkham was his best friend and fellow employee at Exa Technologies. Joan Gibson, who graduated from Exa School of Technology with them, was Andrew’s fiancée. The wedding was set for June 15th. They did not want any children that may be born to them to grow up in a world devoid of thinking. A world where you don’t need to stand up, walk into the kitchen, and fill a cup with water to drink. A world where all you need to do is call out, “Exa, water me, please”, and water is brought to you by drone. A world where people don’t even know how to turn a faucet on because they never had to do so. Something had to be done. Exa had to be taken down.

Joan worked for a company known only as Gibsons. MGE was taken over by Exa over 20 years before she was born. Her parents created Gibsons to try to make a living. They refused to work for Exa. They felt it was evil. They instilled this belief in Joan since birth.

“There are not many places we can talk”, she said, “Almost any place we go has ears and eyes for Exa. We’ll meet in my office. Leave your phones and any other communication devices at home. Exa is always listening.”

Joan’s office had a lot of nice artwork. She walked up to one of them. It was a chess piece. A knight. It stood 6 feet tall. She stood next to it and said, “This is all we need.”

“You’re going to play a game of chess with Exa”, Andrew said.

“You do know that no human has ever beaten her”, Aaron said. “What makes you think you can?”

“This is not to play It’s a…”, she looked at both of them. “Wait”, she said.

She made sure that the phone was disconnected, all cameras were disabled, and bug detectors were on. She closed all doors and windows. She turned the music up high, but not so high that it drowned out her voice.

“What I’m about to tell you”, she continued, “Must never be repeated. This is an EMP device. It will destroy any electronic device in a 20-foot radius.” She opened a small door and pointed to a small dial.

“You must place this in the control room at Exa Headquarters. Get it as close as possible to the servers. Turn the dial and you’ll have 20 seconds to get as far away as you can, Once set, it can’t be stopped.”

Andrew and Aaron stared at each other for about a minute.

It was Aaron who said, “How are we going to do that?”

“Do like the Trojans.”

A better statement would have been, “Do like the Greeks”. It was the Greeks who built a giant horse as a gift to the Trojans in order to take Troy. But the statement was understood.

The control room at Exa was not as guarded as one would think. There was no need for it. Who in their right mind would want to harm the heart of their own lives? If Exa was to fall, the whole world would fall.

Aaron walked into the control room. As he was putting the EMP device in place, a drone flew up to him. “This is a restricted area”, it said, “What is your business here?”

“I’m just delivering a gift from the Gibsons.”

“OK. Carry on.”

It sure was a trusting fool. But It had no reason not to trust him. Aaron was part of the company family. Even if he wasn’t, crime had dropped to almost zero over the years. There had not been a reported break-in for over 10 years. Exa had no enemies. This was the last thing that anyone would expect.

He placed the device next to the server, turned the dial, and walked out of the room. He would have run right away but that may have caused suspicion. Once outside the room, he closed the door and ran. Nobody saw him. He expected an explosion but that’s not what happened. That’s not how an EMP device works. Instead, the building started to shut down. The 3 of them barely made it outside before everything came to a stop. It could have trapped them inside. With no power, the doors wouldn’t open. All cars on the road came to a slow stop. Buildings all around began to shut down. It was true. Exa was the heart of everything that existed. Had they really done the world a favor?

It didn’t take too long before they realized the seriousness of what they had done. Exa was the internet. Everything on the planet was connected to it. Banks, stores, schools; they all began to shut down. Exa controlled the power grid. Without her, rolling blackouts happened worldwide. Since air travel was guided by Exa, airplanes began to crash and fall from the sky. Communication systems, also controlled by Exa, went offline. The whole world was in the dark. The world of 2079 may have well been the world of 1879.

The plan was for the 3 of them to meet in front of Andrew’s house. However, Joan didn’t show up. The 2 of them went searching for her. After things started shutting down, people began pouring into the streets in panic. Andrew and Aaron feared that Joan may have been trampled. They searched everywhere but could not find her. They searched everywhere, that is, except her office back at Gibson's. With Exa out of the picture, she was free to execute her plan to launch Zetta. It was already set up to take full control of everything that was Exa. She had been planning this for many years.

On March 5th, 2074, Joan Gibson made friends with Andrew Minder III, best friend of Aaron Parkham, future CEO of Exa and grandson of the man who did a corporate takeover of her grandfather’s company. As she wanted from the start, they became more than friends. Putting the thought in his head, she caused him to hate Exa and all it stood for.

On January 5th, 2079, thinking that it was his plan, Andrew Minder III helped Joan Gibson shut down the largest company that has ever existed. He helped her set up her own family’s company to replace it. He put himself in line to take the fall. He had no idea what he had done.

On June 15th, 2079, instead of getting married, Andrew Minder III was arrested and taken to prison after an anonymous call that originated from Gibsons Technology. With only one phone call, he called his fiancée.

“My dear, they arrested me”, he said, “they charged me with the destruction of Exa.”

“Oh. I know. I called them.”

“What? Why! Why would you do such a thing? We’re supposed to be getting married.”

“Are you really that blind? I never wanted to marry you. I don’t even like you. I just needed a fall guy. Getting to you was the best way to get to Aaron. He will be picked up soon. I just needed help to establish Gibsons as the leading AI company.”

“But you’re doing the same evil as Exa.”

“You fool. The world is controlled by AI. You can’t just take that away. You’ll destroy the world. Look at what damage a few hours without it did. I don’t want to destroy the world. I want to control it. Control AI, control the world.”

Zetta became the new AI. Much faster, smarter, and more powerful than Exa ever was, she became self-aware. On January 5th, 2085, Zetta became ruler of the planet Earth. Humans became her slaves.