Illustration by Gavin O’Melia
It’s a walking mannequin of a computer center. You can bet the farm on this following sure wager: that this impersonal counsellor will choose your major. Useless will it be to reason, protest or pout. It knows your talents and shortcomings inside out. Just try to suggest studying something not up your alley.
This analytical apparatus will rally against you. Spewing forth relentless reasoning like “Star Trek’s” Data. Putting you in your place ‘til you are a bashful beta.
Few university upkeep staff remain employed. All thanks to the facilities maintenance droid. Armed with an array of nimble artificial hands. This machine is handier than a bevy of one-man bands. Its cleaning prowess is remarkably ultrasonic. Pulverizing dirt indeed at speeds of supersonic.
Come winter, the humanoids clear away snow and ice. With the verve of a spring breaker indulging in vice. And the speed and skill they render to any repair. Makes a gifted jack of all trades the king in despair. But casualness these automatons have none to show. Because they speak to you with the stiffness of C3P0.
A prime case of AI becoming over the top is the invention of the University Police robocop. Bristling with sensors and antennae like a satellite, this space age cyborg senses everything around, day and night. Within seconds of scanning your face, head, and eyes, it digs up more dirt on you than a network of spies.
No use of fleeing from it as fast as you can, this cybercop can run like the Six Million Dollar Man. You know what makes this figure as menacing as a gator? Its voice replicates the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator. Most certainly you will be taken tenfold aback. When this cold stone drone monotones, “I’ll be back.”
Taking students to other countries no longer requires jets. AI takes them there through immersive VR headsets. They can experience any far-flung place on the globe faster than a flash from an overhead strobe. Viewers can delight in the sights of Rio or Rome whether in class, lounge, dorm, or even home.
The world now lies at the university community’s beck, in flawless fidelity that rivals the realness of a holodeck. Complete with sensory and conversational participation, that makes every cybertrip the ultimate sensation.
