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“Shut up,” I said, and the two of us laughed together.
12
Melinda
Pierce met with his investors for two straight days, almost around the clock. He took all of his meals with them, too. Once again, I felt practically ignored.
He wasn’t rude. He greeted me warmly the couple of times we passed in the hall, or while getting coffee in the kitchen in the morning. But overall, I felt like I was forgotten.
By the time the last investor departed on the helicopter, I was getting stir crazy. There was only so much time a girl could spend at the pool, or on the beach, before she started getting antsy.
I found Pierce on the terrace overlooking the pool. He was with Tristan and Andrew, while a white-clad servant popped a bottle of champagne.
“Just in time,” Pierce said when he saw me. He was wearing baggy linen pants and a tighter-fitting T-shirt, which made his arm tattoos visible.
“What are we celebrating?” I asked.
There were four glasses, which meant he had expected me. “The conclusion of two days of nonstop work. Talking to people is exhausting.”
“I myself partook in very little conversation,” Tristan announced, “and I am still exhausted. I do not know how you do it, Pierce.”
“One word, Tristan: methamphetamines.”
Only when the other two men laughed did I do the same. I’m glad that was just a joke.
“I don’t do drugs,” Pierce explained to me, handing me a champagne flute. “Just alcohol.”
“And the occasional joint,” Andrew said.
Pierce waved a hand. “That hardly counts.” He raised his glass. “To the conclusion of business.”
“To your secret AI project!” I toasted while touching glasses.
Pierce frowned at me. In confusion, not surprise.
“She’s convinced your next venture has to do with AI,” Andrew explained.
“God, no,” Pierce replied after taking a sip. “The technology is already plateauing. And it’s getting worse.”
“Worse?” I asked. “How can the technology get worse? Shouldn’t it be gradually improving?”
“The thing about AI is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Pierce explained. His eyes lit up; it was clear that he enjoyed talking about stuff like this. “AI learns by absorbing billions of terabytes of data on the internet.”
“Right. So how is it getting worse?” I asked.
He grinned and gestured with his champagne. “Because more and more content on the internet is created by AI. News articles. How-to guides. Hell, even half of all social media posts come from AI bots these days. The AI algorithms then absorb this new information, which was generated by itself or a competing AI…”
“Which makes it more and more AI-like, rather than human,” I finished for him. “It’s a feedback loop of AI data!”
The billionaire snapped his fingers. “Bingo. The guys who tweak the AI algorithms are trying their best to keep this from happening, but it’s getting harder and harder to do.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to touch that technology with a hundred foot pole.”
“Fair enough. So what are you working on?” I asked casually.
Pierce smirked and glanced at Tristan and Andrew. “She almost got me.”
“She is quite persistent,” Tristan said.
Andrew shook his head. “I told her you like to keep your ideas close to your chest.”
