37. Brandon

37

brANDON

" T his is incredible," Morelle breathed as she took in William's sprawling laboratory complex, her hand squeezing Brandon's in excitement.

Her blue eyes were wide with wonder as she scanned the rows of gleaming equipment, the wall-mounted screens, and the various setups scattered throughout the space.

William practically preened at the praise. "Most of this is custom-built," he said, gesturing at a particularly complex array of machinery. "We develop most of the tech ourselves."

"Standard human technology doesn't quite meet our needs," Kaia said as she rose to her feet and extended her hand to Morelle with a bright smile. "I'm Kaia, William's mate, but that's not why I'm here. I'm a researcher, and I just use William's space to do my work."

Brandon appreciated that Kaia hadn't explained what kind of a researcher she was. He doubted that Morelle would have understood what a bioinformatician was.

The truth was that he hadn't known about that field of study before Kaia joined the clan, and he still didn't understand exactly what she did. He wasn't in the least scientifically inclined.

"What do you research?" Morelle asked as she shook Kaia's hand.

Well, so much for that.

He knew what Kaia was researching, but most clan members were under the impression that Kaia was working with Bridget to find the secret to what made them immortals. Only the council members and Annani's family knew that she was working on deciphering Okidu's journals. If she succeeded, the clan would know how to build more cyborgs like the Odus and, as a side bonus, discover how to turn any human immortal.

Those were lofty goals that Brandon wasn't sure how to feel about. Both offered remarkable benefits but also could lead to catastrophic results.

"I'm a special type of medical researcher," Kaia said. "I combine biology, computer science, and statistics to analyze large biological data sets and use that to solve various problems in healthcare and research."

Morelle smiled and nodded, but Brandon had a feeling she understood very little of the description. "It sounds exciting," she said.

"It is." Kaia returned her smile. "Would you like a tour? I can show you where we're assembling the Perfect Match machines, which is what everyone is most excited about seeing, and I can also show you some of our other innovative projects."

Morelle glanced at Brandon. "I would love that. Do you want to come?"

"I've already seen all that, but you go ahead. I need to discuss Parker's ideas with William."

"Oh, that." She waved a dismissive hand. "I didn't understand most of it the first time you told me about it, and I doubt I'll understand more the second time around. I'd rather go with Kaia."

"Have fun." He kissed her cheek and then watched her go.

"So," William said. "I'm curious to hear Parker's ideas."

As Brandon outlined Parker's concept for the blockchain-secured, AI-driven truth verification system, he could see William's expression shifting from interest to concern to outright skepticism.

"It's an interesting idea," William said, running a hand through his perpetually disheveled hair. "But there are some serious challenges to consider."

"I figured as much." Brandon leaned against a nearby workbench. "Walk me through them in as simple terms as you can manage?"

William nodded thoughtfully. "First, let's talk about the fundamental concept of a centralized truth repository. Even with blockchain security, you're creating a single point of failure—not in terms of tech, but in terms of authority. Who decides what constitutes truth?"

"The AI would be programmed to be impartial," Brandon said, playing devil's advocate even though he deferred to William's expertise.

"And there's problem number two." William leaned against an untidy desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "Training an AI to be truly impartial is practically impossible. Every dataset we use would carry inherent biases. Even if we make the training data and algorithms completely transparent, we can't eliminate bias entirely."

"Parker suggested having the community verify the AI's impartiality."

"Which brings us to problem number three." William lifted his finger to push his antiglare glasses up his nose. "Who is this community? How do we ensure they have the expertise to evaluate AI systems? How do we prevent bad actors from gaming the verification process?" He shook his head. "Look at what happens with cryptocurrency. The technology is solid, but human nature finds ways to corrupt even the most secure systems."

"So, you're saying it's impossible?"

"Not impossible," William corrected. "Just impractical with current technology. The computational power required to run a blockchain system on that scale would be enormous. And that's before we even get into the philosophical questions about what constitutes truth in situations where facts are open to interpretation."

Brandon's enthusiasm for the idea was fading fast. "What if we started with something smaller and focused on specific types of verifiable facts? Things that are less susceptible to misinterpretation?"

William's expression turned thoughtful. "That might be more manageable. We could start with easily verifiable data points like statistics, historical dates, and scientific facts and build up from there. The blockchain could work for that scale, especially if we limit the initial scope. But frankly, that's not economically viable for the purpose you intend it for."

"There must be a way to supply verified information to help young humans develop critical thinking skills," Brandon said. "If we give them tools to recognize manipulation and misinformation, we will safeguard the world from tyranny. There is tremendous value in that."

William rubbed his chin for several long moments. "No matter how noble a goal is, if it doesn't have real-world commercial use, it will not secure funding. But what you want to achieve does not require an ultimate arbiter of truth. It would have been nice to have that, but it's just not feasible currently." William shifted and crossed his legs at the ankles. "We could develop a system that is trained to flag manipulation tactics, provide context for claims, and show how information can be verified independently."

"You just said that an ultimate arbiter of truth is not possible."

"It's not." William grimaced. "But even what I suggested needs significant computing power. The AI wouldn't need to determine truth, just identify patterns of manipulation and provide tools for users to investigate claims themselves. The final analysis would remain the responsibility of the truth seeker."

How many would bother?

Too few to make it worth the effort.

It was much easier to defer to the various so-called experts or rather influencers. Social media had revived the old snake oil salesmanship with a twist and much larger audiences.

It was a goldmine for those who knew how to use it.

Still, Brandon wasn't ready to give up yet.

"What if we combined Parker's basic concept with social elements?" he suggested. "Create a platform where users can collaborate to investigate claims, with AI assistance but not AI judgment?"

"That has potential." William drummed his fingers on the desk. "We could use blockchain to secure the investigation process itself—verifying sources, tracking changes, preventing tampering. The AI would act more like a research assistant than a judge. Still, it will require a lot of computing power that cannot be justified by even the most successful social platform." He smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry that I don't have better news for you."

"That's the nature of truth, right? Often, it is not what we want to hear, but we'd better listen instead of doing something stupid."

"True." William nodded.

Brandon pushed away from the bench he'd been leaning against. "Now for the other reason I brought Morelle over. She needs a phone and laptop like the one you provided for Ell-rom. The one with an artificial intelligence English teacher."

"Of course." William's expression brightened. "I've made some improvements to the AI teacher program since then. The language acquisition algorithms are even better now." He walked over to another desk and started opening drawers. "I've had both devices ready to be delivered for days, but I forgot about them. You did well by coming over and reminding me."

As Morelle and Kaia rejoined them, Morelle immediately launched into an enthusiastic description of everything she'd seen. "The Perfect Match machines are terrifying, with that big helmet thing that comes over the head, but Kaia said that the experience is amazing and that I should try it. She said that they have a new adventure that's called The World Tour. In three hours, I can visit most of Earth's greatest attractions, but it will feel as if I'm spending weeks on a guided tour."

Brandon hadn't been aware of that new adventure, but the truth was that he didn't like the idea of letting a machine take over his mind and put fake memories in there. "Sounds great, but I'll pass. On another note, William's going to set you up with your own phone and laptop," he told her. "Complete with an AI teacher to help you master English."

Morelle's initial disappointment at his lack of enthusiasm for trying the Perfect Match experience was replaced with excitement. "Like Ell-rom's?"

"Even better," William said. "The new version is more advanced and adapts better to your learning style and pace. Let me show you."