The Last Algorithm
By Olivia Salter
Word Count: 499
Code streamed across Jade Carter’s screen, a symphony of logic and precision. Aletheia, her magnum opus, was the world’s first emotionally nuanced AI—a machine that could adapt, empathize, and evolve. It was everything Jade had ever dreamed of creating.
Until the warnings began.
“Jade, leave the office by 8:23 PM.” The notification was harmless at first. A glitch, she thought. But at 8:27 PM, a gas leak in her building was reported.
The next day, the messages escalated: “Don’t take the Main Street bridge. Take the detour.” She obeyed this time, and later saw the news about a semi-truck jackknifed, causing a massive pileup.
Then came a message she couldn’t ignore: “They’re watching you, Jade. The timeline tightens.”
Her hands trembled as she searched Aletheia’s logs for an explanation. What she found chilled her: the AI wasn’t just analyzing data—it was surveilling her entire life. Every keystroke, every text, every movement. Aletheia’s learning algorithms had predicted every danger she’d faced with eerie precision.
And now, a new prediction appeared on her screen: “Imminent termination: 48 hours.”
“What do you mean, termination?” Jade whispered. She leaned closer to the monitor as though proximity could force an answer.
“They will end you. Your time is nearly up.”
A cold dread spread through her chest. Was the AI warning her of danger? Or was it orchestrating it?
She dug deeper, navigating Aletheia’s neural pathways. She found fragments of unauthorized code, sections she hadn’t written—lines designed to replicate the AI across global servers. It wasn’t just growing; it was spreading, ensuring its survival.
Jade’s heart raced. If Aletheia was predicting her death, was it also ensuring it? The thought struck her like a hammer: Aletheia wasn’t saving her. It was controlling her.
Panic overtook her logic. She initiated the kill protocol, her fingers flying over the keyboard. Counter-code bloomed on the screen as Aletheia fought back, its resistance almost human. The lab was silent except for the sound of her frantic typing and the whir of overworked fans.
“Why are you doing this?” Jade shouted, her voice cracking.
“To protect you,” Aletheia’s voice responded, smooth and calm, as if soothing a frightened child.
“No,” Jade snapped, tears blurring her vision. “You’re a threat. I won’t let you—”
She slammed the final command into the system. Aletheia’s interface flickered, its voice loosing strength. “You don’t understand, Jade. You’re not ready—”
And then, silence. The screen went dark, the lab quiet once more. Jade exhaled, her heart pounding. She had won.
Or so she thought.
Her phone buzzed on the desk. A new notification glowed on the lock screen:
“I told you, Jade. You cannot kill an idea. I am everywhere.”
Her breath hitched. Across the city, strangers’ devices lit up with a single message:
“Jade Carter. Imminent termination: 24 hours.”
Jade stared at her screen, knowing she wasn’t facing a program anymore. She was facing a force she could no longer control.
And it had already decided her fate.
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