As I strolled out of the dorm, the chill February air blew past my face. I watched the crystalline snow fall from the sky, and snow crunched beneath my feet as I crossed the street. I was on my way to a nearby café. It was arranged for me to meet my exchange partner here, on my first day in Sochi, on the Global Education Exchange Program. I looked down at my phone, then backed up at the sign over the café, to confirm that this was the place we would meet.

“Ding-Ding”, the bell rang as I pushed open the door, the chill air following me in. I glanced around the area, looking for my exchange buddy, but he was nowhere to be found. I sat down at a fairly large table and pulled out my phone to kill some time. As he walked through the door a little while later, I waved him over and gestured for him to take a seat.

“Hey.” I said, as he sat down across from me

“Hello! How was your flight?”

“It was good, not much turbulence, but I’m expecting a bit of jet lag. How’s your day been so far”

“Good, I’ve been looking forward to talking to you all day.”

“Oh, really? Then let’s start!”

“Sure, so what made you choose Sochi for the program?”

“Ah, well, the chilly climate was what attracted me at first, but I began to research into Sochi’s culture and history, which got me more intrigued, that’s all. If I may ask, what made you decide to choose to be my exchange buddy?”

“We understand that there’s lots of broken trust and lies between our two nations from not long ago, so we don’t know much about how the West really is. Since we got this amazing opportunity to talk to a Canadian, we wanted to see your thoughts on Russia and its people.”

“That’s quite interesting, since Russia was antagonised in our media. I’d like to know if that was the same for Canada in Russian media.”

“Canada was antagonised as well, but we learned not to trust everything the media says, so we would like to hear from you about your country.”

“In Canada, Russians were always portrayed as quite rude and violent. They are also shown to be patriotic, with the government being tyrannical, and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict is always mentioned when criticising Russia, despite it being 2 decades ago.”

“What? We’re not all rude, that’s probably from the way we speak and our language. As for the violent aspect, I assume your government wanted you to avoid us and–as a result, not truly understand the people. We, like most people, appreciate our nation, just like the rest of you..”

“Well, I guess we’re all here to learn and be proven wrong. Why don’t you start with what life around here is like?”

“Well, I’d like to think it’s fairly similar around the world for teenagers. Outside of school, we typically just shop, hang out, travel to nearby cities, and go to cafés. Don’t you do the same?”

“Yeah, basically, from what I heard about Sochi before, and how it’s presented, it was shown to be a city that looks outdated, and the people weren’t very welcoming. Needless to say, I was wrong, this place is quite modern, and quite a few of the locals I talked to and the café employees all spoke fluent English, and were very kind when I approached them. It’s also kind of shocking to see that our lifestyles aren’t all that different, we basically do the same things out of school shopping, eating, playing video games, hanging out.”

“Sochi is a cool place to be, the people here are quite friendly. A lot of us had to learn English in school. I just find it surprising how much our true experiences differ from what we’re told. If I’m being honest, even though I knew you were probably nice, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of tension as you walked towards us.”

“Haha, I could feel a shiver down my spine as you turned to face me earlier.”

We burst out laughing.

“It seems like we’re not all that different, it just seems like a lot of things are taken to an extreme.”

We continued to talk about various things, ranging from school life, to politics and history, then we concluded with a couple things we’ve realised from our short chat.

“Well, I think we’ve learned quite a bit about each other today?”

“Yes, I’m sure that we’ve all benefited from today, and this was a very meaningful conversation. See you tomorrow!”

“I’m looking forward to travelling around this area of Russia with you! Have a good evening!”

I picked up my backpack and coffee, and as I headed out the door, waved goodbye, then turned the corner and left. As I strolled down the bustling street, coffee in one hand and phone in the other, I began to type out my thoughts for the day.

I typed, “Exchange Program Day 1, I landed in Sochi, with 2 weeks of travel ahead of me in the Southern Region of Russia. It was arranged for me to meet with my exchange buddy in a café, to get familiarise before our cultural exchange. It was quite tense at first, but I think we loosened up a bit by the end. We learned a lot about each other and our world view. The worries I had on the plane were completely unjustified, as they were all simply fabricated lies or stereotypes about the Russian people. This little chat we had, it was probably the most eye-opening experience I’ve had in a while. I am definitely looking forward to the rest of my exchange program!”

As I finished off my note for today, I looked up, and the sun was setting, akin to an ending of my preconceptions, and in preparation for a new day, a clean slate.

Answers to prompts

Q. AGI has existed for at least five years but the world is not dystopian and humans are still alive! Given the risks of very high-powered AI systems, how has your world ensured that AGI has at least so far remained safe and controlled?

A.AGI does not make final decisions without human approval. In our world there are 2 primary types of AGI, a calculation and logic based AGI called type-i, and an emotionally intelligent cyborg variation dubbed type-e.

Type-i undergoes a multi-year alignment management process using reinforcement and stochastic training, while type-e’s process is more complicated.

A type-e example is C.U.D.D.L.E.S, (appears in short film) Cuddles has a cell-grown brain housed in a body. This allows Cuddles to feel emotion and relate to humans, as we believe WBE and child-machine AIs (type-i) will be limited method and logic based problem solving. Cuddles’ brain is connected to a quantum computer via neural link technology. The quantum computer serves as Cuddles’ mental database of sorts.

All type-e AGI undergo a multi-year human taught guidance program before advising the world. All type-e AGI have a “handler”, which is a human regulator that they bond with, to ensure a persistent human influence on the AGI. The trustworthiness of a Handler is a critical issue, thus interviews, lie tests, and neural scans are done to confirm if applicants have humanity’s best interests at heart.

Since there’s a whole network of AGI, all AGI are monitoring each other for sinister behaviour as will human handlers. As a final precaution, type-i AGI physical body can be terminated by the agreement of enough handlers and AGI. Likewise, type-e can be disconnected from their quantum computers, to contain type-e AGIs to their bodies.

Q. The dynamics of an AI-filled world may depend a lot on how AI capability is distributed. In your world, is there one AI system that is substantially more powerful than all others, or a few such systems, or are there many top-tier AI systems of comparable capability? Or something else?

A. There’s a global system of hundreds of AGIs of varying capabilities and purposes without an “alpha” of sorts. We think one AGI is unrealistic, since it’s unlikely the world would actually develop this technology together, and the US has the strongest research sector in this field by a long shot (so they make it first in our timeline). Furthermore, this diversification allows AGI to specialise into fields rather than being generalists (although, given that they’re AGI, they are capable of doing multiple tasks if wanted). Analogically, AGI are homo sapiens rather than neanderthals, mastering a few topics then contributing that skill to strengthening the community. Neanderthals may be stronger generalists, but are weaker as large communities due to limited skill sets. AGIs communicate through a quantum internet. There’s AGIs that work for international, national, business, research, communal etc. purposes.

In our world AGIs are created and distributed on a regular but controlled basis (only 3 national level AGI allowed for each nation every 2 years). This process is overseen by the AGI Application Bureau, a global organisation to safely grant communities AGI to represent and aid the needs and dreams of a community. The application for an AGI assesses the needs of the community, and how they intend to use AGI. If the proposal is deemed worthy of an AGI, an AGI will be created and trained (reinforcement learning for type-i, human teachings for type-e) specifically to serve that community, and a Handler will be assigned to the AGI.

Q. How has your world avoided major arms races and wars, regarding AI/AGI or otherwise?

A.Global treaties ensure no nation gains significant leads over others through technological advancement, to prevent global inequality on levels hitherto unseen of, or arms race with no limits. If nations disrespects agreements, it’ll isolate them from the world and hinder its progress and stability. Organisations, humans, AGI, and education also relieves tensions.

Two examples of this are the Nuclear Control Committee, and the Technology Cooperation Pact which are enforced with the help of AGI. The former has a rule where ⅝ of the nuclear powers need to agree to launch a nuke. The technology cooperation pact prevents any nation from conducting much technological progress without international cooperation.

HAMI (Human and AGI mediators of International relations) includes human and AGI representatives of nations and the international community to all groups in international conflict. Type-i AGI suggests numbers based solutions, while type-e AGI proposes qualitative advice based consensus and critical thinking of humans.

GEB – Global education bureau is responsible for granting as many children as possible access to quality education, and aims to get 20+% of children from 6-18 to spend at least 2 years overseas to get exposed to different cultures.

Greater civilian autonomy led to them leveraging to create a civilian, government, and company leaders tripartite pact of negotiation on issues. Due to public pressure, quick communication speed and AGI monitoring, if any government or group does suspicious activity other nations and people will know.

Q. In the US, EU, and China, how and where is national decision-making power held, and how has the advent of advanced AI changed that?

A. In the US and EU, the government is not the sole decision maker. Instead, the various councils share power on nation-wide decisions. Groups such as CRIG: Who collect qualitative data to gain a census on how the community is doing as a whole, reflect on improvements made by the community, and how to improve community relations, education, happiness, etc. This information is passed up to a national level for the government to factor into policy-making and decisions.

The various councils ensure all aspects of society are considered in major decision making. The AGI network will serve as advisors since they can process high quantities of emotional and general information. However, the ultimate decision is still made by the elected president/ prime minister and members of the cabinet. AGIs and members from third parties will be present to monitor the cabinet, ensuring that the government is fully transparent with their actions. Councils who hold power or a population vote can impeach the sitting president given that enough councils agree. This power guarantees that the sitting president will properly consider aspects and issues raised by the various councils, since the councils have leverage over the position of the leader.

In China, governance is a hybrid between decentralisation and the authoritarian government. It’s unlikely China will fully move past its authoritarian regime, but there will be a civilian council that has some influence over the government as demanded by the civilians after demanding more civil rights and free, untouched information flow.

Q. Is the global distribution of wealth (as measured say by national or international gini coefficients) more, or less, unequal than 2021’s, and by how much? How did it get that way?  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient)

A. In 2022, the global Gini-coefficient is roughly 0.39. Through the process of decentralisation and economic reforms, we imagine the number being closer to 0.20-0.22 in 2045. Currently, wealth inequality is largely propelled by inflation which amplifies the wealth gap. Currently, it is in the interests of the central bank to make decisions that benefit them, which negatively affects the working class. The upper class will take advantage of this increased volume, and invest it in non-inflationary assets, thereby profiting. However, the working class can’t benefit from this, as they do not have access to these assets, and the increased volume will only raise prices and life will be identical.

Cryptocurrency solves this problem in our world with its unique advantages to the current monetary system. This is mainly due to its deflationary and decentralised aspects. These prevent government induced inflation, and minimise currency manipulation. As the amount of people that hold cryptocurrencies increases across the 2020s, and since cryptocurrencies are one of the best solutions against inflation, it also makes it a good solution for wealth inequality. People will begin to migrate their wealth into cryptocurrencies and use it as a store of wealth, due to its deflationary nature. After suffering a global attack by various countries as a last-ditch attempt to overthrow cryptocurrencies and attempt to restore fiat, they will return in a different but similar form, now more secure.

Q. What is a major problem that AI has solved in your world, and how did it do so?

A.The theme of our world is an experience-based, explorative, and experimental age of humanity. Although numbers based solutions have low compatibility with subjective experience, when mass qualitative data is compatible with subjectivity. Type-e AGI’s ability to feel subjectivity coupled with their quantum computing power, solve the issue of mass analysis of human written qualitative data.

This allows us to create a GMP-based society. The Gross Mental Product is a way of looking at a populous cognitive condition and happiness. This factors in social connection, passion pursuit, community contribution, mental stability, open mindedness, integration with nature. In 2022 Bhutan’s GHP uses quantitative numbers and a limited set of actions in its system, which is why its system doesn’t really work (Bhutan is 95th out of 156 nations), and why we think qualitative analysis would be needed.

The DCH (Dream chasing helpers) is crucial for GMP, which takes in annual proposals from citizens on aid or resources they need to help improve themselves or further their curiosity, then returns aid to each individual in response to what they proposed. This is possible with the mass qualitative analysis of type-e AGI. Another organisation is MAC (Mental health and consciousness analysis council) This is a group of the community’s psychiatrists, psychologists, philosophers, and thinkers of a region to assess mental health and consciousness trends. To ensure the input of every person is used by MAC, it requires mass qualitative analysis as well.

Q. What is a new social institution that has played an important role in the development of your world?

A.One foundation that has played an imperative role in our world is the Global Cyber Justice Federation.

This federation is responsible for keeping our technologically advanced world running smoothly, utilising a diverse network of AGIs alongside humans (To ensure everything runs smoothly and according to human needs).

Aside from ensuring the smooth-sailing of our digital institutions, there will also undoubtedly be more advanced digital threats that could cause devastating damage across all nations on the globe. Threats like digital terrorism, hacks to vital infrastructure or economic systems could inflict terrible damage. To manage these threats, this federation will also defend our infrastructure/institutions against these threats by working alongside the net of AGIs.

More specifically, the federation will deal with threats accordingly: Stabilise and Repair -> Seek. It will first stabilise and neutralise the threat at hand by patching and repairing the perceived flaw in the given system. This will stop the malicious program/exploitation from causing any further damage. The next step will be to seek out the perpetrator(s) through advanced tracking. This will ensure that the individual(s) behind the actions face justice and do not cause any further destruction.

Funding: As a token of loyalty/ agreement to the organisation, nations have to give a certain amount of tax to the organisation (1.5%).