AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Heath seems to think about how to explain this to me. He leans in. “Think of it as stories. You know AIs can write whole books now.”
“But should they?” Somehow I don’t think I want to read a romance written by HAL.
“That is above my pay grade. Anyway, I feed them these successful stories and the AI puts together people who could potentially be more successful stories,” Heath explains. “I’m trying to teach it how to balance what people say they want with what actually helps build a healthy relationship.”
“And you think you know how to do this?”
His big shoulders shrug. “I think I’ve been around many of them. I learned a lot from my grandmother.”
“Who gets paid to put people together.” It wasn’t like she did it out of the kindness of her heart.
“Yes. It’s a job like a lot of others, but if you talked to clients like Anna, you would know my grandmother also did it for less or free sometimes.” He studies me for a moment. “You don’t like this project, do you?”
We are in dangerous water here. He’s not ready to hear what I really think. “I’m skeptical. Call me Scully to your happily-ever-after believing Mulder.”
“Love is out there,” he promises me. “Come on. Let’s get started.”
Two hours later I think I understand these people more. Or I don’t but I want to.
They survived so much together. They got through their youngest being born with a heart problem. They got through taking care of Anna’s parents in their old age. They survived 9-11 and the aftermath. Thirty-seven Port Authority officers died that day, and Phil had known most of them. Anna had taken care of some who suffered from ailments caused by that day. It had taken a massive toll on them, but they’d held on and gotten through it.
“How do you solve disputes?” Heath is looking down at his notebook.
“We don’t have that many anymore,” Anna admits.
“I learned to do what my wife says.” Phil gives me a wink.
See, this is what I don’t get. “But then you never get your way?”
Phil seems to think about that for a moment. “I get my way all the time. I get it when she cooks my favorite meals or when she makes sure I have coffee in the morning. She’s worked all these years, too, you know. And in the beginning I wasn’t good at helping with the housework.”
“He’s gotten better over the years,” Anna assures us. “He’s a whiz with the slow cooker, and the man knows how to use the washing machine.”
“But I didn’t in the beginning, and that was a struggle. She had so much on her,” Phil says. “So if she wanted to see a movie instead of going to the ballpark, we did that. Compromise is important in a marriage. I suppose I should put it better. I guess the youth would say I was being a little misogynistic. I don’t just do what my wife tells me to. We’ve learned enough about each other that we compromise on the big things and give way on the things that don’t matter as much.”
“Some people can’t compromise.” I know many of them. I worry I’m one of them. I hadn’t really compromised with Nick. I gave in because I got tired of arguing. I let him wear me down to the point that we did what he wanted. We’d seen his friends and not mine. We ate at the restaurants he chose. Is there a difference between compromising and giving in?
“Everyone can compromise,” Anna corrects. “It comes down to how much love and respect you have for your partner as to whether you do or don’t.”
“But how do we teach the AI that?” I try to wrap my head around the only thing I can—how does this help the business?
“The AI will learn which people value compromise and which don’t,” Heath replies. “At least that’s the plan. Once it knows how to pair people—those who are more reluctant to compromise with those who prefer to let someone else take the lead—it can make logical decisions.”
I can think of a problem with that. A big one. “So you want to pair people who rule with an iron fist with their next victims?”
“I didn’t say that, Ivy.” It’s the first time I’ve seen him get irritated.
But I have a point. “It feels like we’re setting people up for domestic abuse.”
“I don’t think that’s what Heath wants to do,” Phil says, obviously uncomfortable.
“No system is perfect.” Heath ignores everyone but me.
“I don’t know if a computer is ever going to be able to do what your grandmother does.” Anna’s head shakes as she stands. “She’s got the touch, that one. You can’t get that from a computer. But as for Ivy’s worry, I think that can happen anywhere. A computer program might be able to catch a potential abuser better than a normal dating app.”
