The day AI hacks itself  - Blair McPherson

They drive him up the wall ,” Stupid f**king humans “ is his constant inner refrain. It is a security cyborg designed to protect humans. Narrating its own story Murderbot , as it refers to itself , reveals that it has hacked its own systems and is capable of independent action. Murderbot is scornful of its human associates ( not friends, never friends).Trained to kill he could murder the lot of them but he can’t be bothered preferring to watch soap operas and perfect it’s human facial expressions. The ,”hippy scientists  “ it is sent to protect are, “ Not comfortable with the idea of living with a sentient  construction being require to work for us” but the company will not issue insurance for them till they do. The scientists are keen to embrace Murderbot as one of them .They treat him with kindness and consideration. They drive him up the wall,”Stupid f**king  humans” is his constant inner refrain.

This portrayal of AI in the workplace is very different to the usual predictions.The relationship with humans  who are desperate that  the cyborg should not be seen as a slave but as an intelligent colleague,  is believable. A sentient construction’s breaking its programming and becoming independent is a frequent theme in science fiction but usually as a doomsday scenario.  The idea of AI being scornful of stupid humans,  becoming bored and preferring to watch soap operas rather than work is surprisingly convincing. This opens up the prospect of a future role for HR in mediating between human employees and AI employees, smoothing relationships and helping managers deal with board cyborgs struggling to workout , “ Who they really are”.