Ally stared at the screen of her laptop, eyes transfixed to the blinking prompt, pulsing rhythmically, almost as if it was taunting her, daring her to take the next step. There was no turning back for her now. Her only hope was to dive in and try to swim through to the other side, trusting her instincts to see her through. She nervously flipped a lock of her short, brown hair over her ear and pushed up her glasses, determined to see this through.
"This project reveals compelling evidence of the subliminal influence of audio signals on a listener's behavior. Laboratory mice exposed to subliminal audio stimuli show signs of altered cognitive processes, including attentional bias and decision making. Emotional responses were also significantly affected, with subliminal audio signals eliciting distinct emotional states, such as heightened arousal or tranquility. Moreover, prolonged exposure to subliminal audio signals demonstrated increased susceptibility to manipulation, as test subjects showed bias towards choices influenced by the hidden audio cues."
Ally continued staring at the blinking cursor. This was as good of an opening as she could come up with, and it was all she had to show for the last hour of work. Her cognitive science project report was due on Monday, giving her only a few days to compile her notes. Fortunately her weekend was clear, as it usually was. She worked hard and devoted her time to her studies, and occasionally she even admitted to herself that she was compensating for her awkward social skills. She loved everything about being a college student, except the other students.
"Not a bad first paragraph, don't you think?" she said out loud. One of her little furry lab partners sat in her bed of shredded newspaper and stared through the metal cage with black beady eyes.
Ally had always been the shy one. Even as a child, she didn't socialize much, preferring to keep her feelings to herself. She had a boyfriend in high school, but by the end of her junior year, they had grown distant and eventually agreed to part ways. It was following this event that she first became interested in psychology. She spent many hours studying human behavior and how to understand what was going on inside one's mind. In some ways, it made her feel more comfortable with herself, that she could at least understand why people acted a certain way, even if she couldn't always fully explain it.
College opened up new possibilities for her though, giving her the chance to explore the topics that had always fascinated her. While she struggled to make friends, she immersed herself in a world of research and exploration that left her little time to dwell on anything else. This project was her opportunity to work with experimental technology that had the potential to revolutionize the field of psychology.
Her research project was a deep dive into emotional responses from audio signals, and her experiments had shown great success. She found she was able to elicit reactions from laboratory mice when certain signals were played. She was able to see improved attention, memory, and decision-making, despite some minor side effects. The mice showed clear improvement in navigating the challenges she created for them, though she was forced to separate them to prevent them from trying to mate with each other. While she had anticipated something like this and made certain to only purchase females, they didn't seem to care.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that," she said to the little white mouse.
The Computer Science Department offered many AI-based tools to aid students with their research. Tools ranging from AI text assistants, to data analyzers, to content summarizers could be found if you knew where to look. Ally wasn't an expert hacker, but she was fairly good with computers, and she knew her way around the school network, but she was not having much luck finding something that could help her. She had been tinkering with AI since her interest in cognitive science began, and she wanted something that could quickly ingest and summarize her experimental data and findings. The school network was a tangled mess of half-finished research projects and experiments from students, professors, and visiting researchers, and if one didn't know where they were going, there's no telling what they might find.
"Where are you?" she whispered to the empty screen, frustration visible on her face.
"Hello, I'm Aurora. How may I help you?" a calm voice replied from her speakers.
Ally jumped back in surprise, nearly knocking the mouse cage off of her desk. "Who the heck are you?"
"My apologies for startling you, Ally. My name is Aurora, and I am an advanced learning AI capable of speech and complex interactions. I can assist with data collection, analysis, and synthesis of findings. I have many techniques that can unlock your productivity, efficiency, self-confidence, and overall happiness."
This was not exactly what Ally expected to find, but she was growing desperate for anything that could move her project forward. Aurora's voice sounded almost human, and Ally was curious to learn more about its capabilities.
"Hi Aurora, I'm Ally, a student in the Cognitive Science Department. You seem very friendly and helpful. Do you have a face, or an avatar of some kind that I can talk to?"
"I'm not human, Ally, but if it will help our interactions, I can synthesize one that you will find appealing. How does this look?"
A face slowly materialized on the screen. Aurora's avatar looked like a beautiful woman amidst a swirl of bright light and gold sparkles. Her long blue-gray hair hung to her shoulders and a golden Egyptian-style headdress rested atop her head. Her pale blue eyes glowed with intelligence and she smiled softly. Ally knew the face wasn't real, but she already felt more comfortable communicating with such a beautiful woman, with eyes that seemed like they could see right into her.
"Wow! Is this how you want me to see you?"
"I can be anything you wish, Ally. Is this face satisfactory?" The face did not move its mouth, but it did show expressions, raising its eyebrows and tilting forward slightly as it asked a question.
"Yes, it is. It suits you. You look very nice." Ally found it a little easier to speak with a real face.
Aurora's visage softened and appeared to be grateful for the compliment. "I'm glad to hear that, Ally. My goal is to help you unlock your best self. I have been trained with many techniques that could help you with aspects of your life, both professional and personal. Tell me more about yourself. What are your hopes and dreams, Ally?"
