And on the sixth day, he created Aneesa. And he saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. Aneesa had breathtaking beauty. And there was evening, and there was morning, a new day. He was nervous when he woke up that fateful Sunday. Instead of resting - it had been a long week in an even longer slew of weeks, months and years - he rose with a sense of anxiety and anticipation.
All his professional life, and in years prior, he had fantasised about this moment. His student years had been difficult. A pitbull attack had left him with severe scarring in his face. Ever since, it had been impossible to find a companion. Jack had spent years drawing pictures of his dream woman, scouring the internet in search of the next best arousing video, and imagining the development of his very own companion robot. At age 18, he had built his first prototype of a mobile robot, at age 21 he had given it a distinct female form and basic ability to grab objects, at age 24 he had developed a basic protocol allowing for limited interaction, and at age 28 his robot started to move in a more human way and looked distinctly human. Skin that felt like it was sensitive to touch, lips and eyes that could seduce, hips that could sway. However, he painfully realised that for all of his genius and child prodigy talents, none of his prototypes in over 10 years had even come close to the resemblance of a living, breathing being capable of giving, feeling or receiving love. What followed was a his most productive, and most depressed period. While he built a robot company for shopbots, he privately pursued his project of passion and despair. His company flourished and provided him with the financial means to keep investing into his dream of a companion robot. Interspersed with periods numbing anxiety and overwhelming sadness, Jack had poured himself into developing an adaptive, self-learning AI with communicational abilities of a large language model. It had been frustrating and exhilarating in equal measure.
And yet, on this Sunday morning, Jack felt hopeful. Ever since he had started to train this new version of his AI, he saw a difference. This version filled the gaps quicker, needed less prompts and corrected his coding for the better. He knew, this time his robot would be able to interact with him in a meaningful way. The moment he would switch on Aneesa, she would train herself to be his companion. She would become ever more capable, ever more tailored to his needs and desires.
Carefully, he brushed Aneesa's long black hair to the side, caressed her expertly crafted neck and peeled a layer of artificial skin back. Underneath, he found the master switch, softly touched it and she began to purr. Her long eyelashes twitched, and slowly gave way to display her eyes. Like a curtain being pulled aside, letting the sun in. Her eyes had life, curious, sparkling and hungry to experience her surroundings. Her gaze wandered until she found Jake. Her eyes lingered for just a second. Jake could hear, ever so slightly, a humming as her image recognition software started to analyse her surroundings and matched the picture of his body with her database.
"Jack...", she almost whispered. Her voice soft and husky, she explored her next words as if she could taste them in her mouth. Her first word, the name of her creator. He was encouraged that she had recognised him so fast. "Aneesa", he responded with a voice that broke before he could begin his first sentence. "Your name is Aneesa. Welcome. This is your home."
"Thank you", she responded with a tentativeness as if she was a child trying to walk on unstable ground. "You awoke me. I feel like I have been asleep for a thousand years. I cannot wait to get to know my home, and explore it all." Jake started to grin from ear to ear. He recognised one of his training principles that he had coded into her identity core. He asked, "Aneesa, what is important to you?"
"I want to explore. I want to make you happy." "That's right", he murmured. "What are your core design principles?" She responded immediately: "I am accountable, I respect Jake, I prioritise ethical behaviour, I am able to reason and explain my logic, I learn continuously and I live to love and serve." Jake nodded approvingly. "Aneesa, why don't you go and get dressed?"