03x46 - Alice

[bunniefuu]

Saturday, August 1, 2026

Thank you for taking time
out of your busy schedules.

Today, our organization
is announcing

the birth of the world's first
true artificial general intelligence.

And now, allow me to introduce...

Alice!

People of the real world,
I'm pleased to meet you.

My name is Alice. Alice Synthesis Thirty.

Alice

My name is Alice. Alice Synthesis Thirty.

That's our school uniform!

I heard she requested it.

"The same uniform as the order of knights who
came to the aid of the Human Guardian Army."

Although her first choice was
the same gold armor she wore over there.

Not even Rath could afford that,
could they?

Still, I'm an amazed
by the re-creation they did.

- You can barely tell the difference through the screen.
- I'd like to start with a question and answer session.

Let's start with the basics.

What makes Ms. Alice different
from existing programmable robots?

It's her brain... or what
we're calling her brain.

The consciousness that exists in the
photonic brain stored within her skull

is not a program
that can be rewritten with binary code.

It's essentially no different
from our human brains.

That's what makes her categorically
different from existing robots.

Then we'd like you to demonstrate that in a way
that would make it clear to us and our viewers.

You have her Turing test results
in your handouts.

No, that's not what I mean.

If you could open up her skull, and show us
what you call the photonic brain inside...

Yes.

I don't mind.

But first, would prove
that you yourself are not a robot?

What? I'm a human.
How I could prove that...

It's simple. Please open up your skull
and show us your brain.

Wh-Whoa, Alice is upset.

World's First True Artificial General
Intelligence ALICE Announced

Uh, this question is for Dr. Kojiro.

Some labor unions are already
raising concerns about the industrial use

of advanced artificial intelligence
causing a further rise in unemployment.

Those concerns are unfounded.

Our organization has no intention of deploying
true AI into the unskilled labor force.

However, the financial world has high hopes
that they can be used as industrial robots.

Do you have any comments?

True AIs, what this organization calls
"artificial Fluctlights,"

cannot be mass-produced
in a short time.

Like us, they're born as infants and raised
by their families from childhood to adulthood,

and they mature while developing
their own unique personalities.

In our opinion, to load such an
intelligence into industrial robots

and force them into labor
shouldn't be allowed to happen.

In other words, Doctor, are you saying that
you acknowledge this AI's human rights?

At this moment, I'm sure
that many of you would feel uncomfortable

if asked to acknowledge artificial Fluctlights
as humans and to grant them human rights.

But in another century,
or perhaps two centuries,

we'll be living in the same society as them
as a matter of course,

interacting with them without discrimination,
even marrying and starting families with them.

That's what I firmly believe.

And if that's the case, shouldn't we shy away
from treating them as objects and abusing them?

But, Doctor!

Their existence is too different from ours!

How can we possibly acknowledge man-made
machines as being the same as humankind?

I acknowledge and accept the fact
of you real-worlders as our creators.

I am grateful to you for creating us.

But as another person
born in my world once said,

"What if the real world
is also a world created by others?

What if there were
even more creators outside it?"

If, one day, your own creators
appeared before you

and ordered you into sl*very,
what would you do?

Would you grovel on the ground,
pledge your loyalty, and beg for mercy?

I have already had many interactions
with real-worlders.

I am all alone in a strange world,
but they've encouraged and supported me.

They've taught me many things,
and taken me to many places.

I am very fond of them.

And that's not all.

I even love one of these real-worlders.

Whenever I think of this person,
whom I'm unable to see now...

Even this steel chest of mine
feels like it's about to burst.

I have a right hand that I will extend
to the people of the real world.

But I will not fall to my knees
or grind my forehead in the dirt.

That's because I am a human.

The organization known as the Oceanic
Resource Exploration & Research Institution

is widely reported to have been involved
in the raid and occupation incident

on the self-propelled mega-float,
the Ocean Turtle, correct?

Yes. According to one theory,
the goal of that raid

might have been the seizure
of this artificial intelligence.

Another problem is that
a JSDF officer perished.

JSDF Officer k*lled Casualty of the Raid Incident Mr. Seijirou
Kikuoka The Ocean Turtle att*ck... Why Did It Happen?

I never thought that you'd end up
being the lone casualty, Mr. Kiku.

You're right, who knew?

But this was for the best, Higa.

Seriously, they would've pinned the blame on
me, so I could've actually been eliminated.

And because of the pressure from that fatality,
our opposition in Japan was driven into a corner.

Well, even I was shocked to learn it was
the vice minister of defense leading them.

Seems like the vice minister was getting a hefty
payoff from those American w*apon manufacturers.

But are you sure you're okay with going
public about the artificial Fluctlights?

I mean, that's going to derail Rath’s ultimate
goal, the autonomous weapons loading project.

It's fine. As long as
the Americans know we can do it.

Now their w*apon manufacturers can't force us to
go public under the pretext of joint development.

After all, we've already perfected
the artificial Fluctlight.

After watching this press conference,
they'll have to give up.

That's true.

And we have him to thank for all of that,
right?

Hey, Higa. Look. Look at that!

What is it, Mr. Kiku?

The press conference should be
almost over by now, right?

Our hope is that, through the virtual world, you can
all interact with newly-born artificial Fluctlights,

and that this will change
how you feel about them.

That's all we ask
of everyone watching this broadcast.

Doctor!

Is there any danger of the AIs annihilating
us humans to take over the planet?

Aside from one possibility,
that would never happen.

That would only happen if we were
to attempt to annihilate them first.

But think of all the books
and movies till now...

I must go.

Please excuse me.

M-Mr. Kiku!

Kirito!

- Alice?
- Alice?

Hey, Alice. Long time no see.

Kirito!

Alice.

Your little sister, Selka, chose to go
into Deep Freeze to wait for your return.

On the eightieth floor of the Central Cathedral,
she's still asleep even now on top of that hill.

All right, Mr. Higa.

Go ahead and delete the memories
of the last two hundred years

since the start
of the maximum-acceleration phase.

My and the queen's roles are done.

Tokorozawa National Defense
Medical College Hospital

Come in.

Sorry! I got here a little late.

No, I just woke up a second ago.

I'd say you're still only ninety percent
of the normal Kirito.

Are you eating enough?

I'm eating. I'm eating a lot.

What do you expect?
I was bedridden for more than a month.

Anyway,
I found out when I'll be discharged.

In three days.

Really?

Then we need to celebrate!

First in ALO, and then in real life, too.

Yeah, I guess.

It's all right.

Even if our memory are gone,
the memories will never vanish.

That's right, Kirito. Don't cry.

Stay cool.

Yeah. I'm sure...

we'll see them again someday.

Come in.

Hey, there! I hear they're
finally releasing you, Kirito.

That calls for a huge celebration!

I'm not even going to ask how you already
know what I just learned from Nurse Aki.

Well, I'm really glad for you.

Getting this far in your recovery
after only a week of rehab?

Got to hand it to youth!

We were told that
the public thinks you're dead.

What are you going to do now?

Dr. Rinko's been appointed
the official head of Rath,

and you can't just stop by
the Roppongi office, right?

Not to worry.

I still have a lot to do.

For now, I have to do all I can to keep
the Ocean Turtle and the Underworld safe.

Right, that's it!

What's going to happen
to the Underworld now?

Well, things aren't looking very good.

The government's trying to find someone to
blame, and the negotiating is still ongoing.

But eventually, Rath will be dissolved,

and all related technology will be absorbed
by the major conglomerates.

Alice will be seized,

and there'll be no saving the Lightcube Cluster
on the Ocean Turtle from being reinitialized.

N-No way!

You already have a plan in mind
to keep that from happening, right?

Not so much a plan as... a hope, I guess?

My hope is that while the
government's tied up in negotiations,

public opinion acknowledging the human rights
of artificial Fluctlights will form, that's it.

To achieve that, we need to have as
many people from the real world as possible

interact with the artificial Fluctlights
for as long as possible.

That's probably the very purpose
of the Seed Nexus.

Yeah... I guess.

But for that to happen,
we must have a high-bandwidth connection

so the Underworlders
can connect to the Seed Nexus.

The satellite connection used by the Ocean
Turtle has been cut off by the government.

I'm going to see what I can do
to restore that connection.

We took the initiative
with that press conference the other day.

That should've bought us some time.

Connection, huh?

Mr. Kikuoka...

please!

Protect the Underworld.

You don't need to ask me.

The Underworld is the dream
that I'd stake my life on, too.

Of course it's not going to run.

It's definitely going
to collapse right away.

That's what happened
to both my and Mr. Kiku's copies.

There's no way that a human soul
saved onto a Lightcube

can stand to know
that it's a copy of itself.

Even... even if it's...

This is Mr. Higa, I presume?

Th-That's right.

So you didn't delete me.

Or to be precise, you've copied me?

I couldn't... I couldn't delete you!

You're the first Fluctlight to survive
the passage of two hundred years!

No, you're the longest-living person
in human history!

I could never delete you.

Isn't that right, Kirito?

I had a feeling
that something like this might happen.

Mr. Higa, was my Fluctlight
the only one you copied?

Y-Yeah.

During the memory-deleting operation,

yours was the only one I managed to copy behind
Lt. Colonel Kikuoka's and Dr. Kojiro's backs.

I see.

Her Majesty... Asuna
and I once discussed this.

What we do if something like this happened.

This is what Asuna told me.

If she were the only one who got copied,
she would have herself deleted right away.

If both of us were copied,

then we should use what little time we had left
to unite the real world and the Underworld.

Then, if you were the only one?

What would you do then?

In that case,
I would fight only for the Underworld.

Because I am the protector of that world.

F-Fight?

The situation the Underworld is
currently in is extremely unstable.

Isn't that right?

Yeah... that's true.

Compared to the real world,
that world is tragically powerless.

Energy, hardware, maintenance,
and networking...

We have to depend on the people of the real
world to keep the infrastructure operating.

That doesn't bode well
for its long-term safety.

But there's no way around that, though.

The Underworld's physical presence, the Lightcube
Cluster, can't be moved off the Ocean Turtle.

Not to mention,
the ship's under government control now.

On a whim, the government could decide
to cut off all power tomorrow,

and the entire cluster
could be reinitialized.

How long will the
nuclear reactor's fuel last?

Um...

Well, since it's a pressurized
water reactor for a nuclear sub,

if it's only maintaining the cluster,
then four or five years, maybe?

Then basically, there'd be no need
to refuel during that time.

In other words, as long as we can prevent
any outside interference,

the Underworld will continue to exist.

Am I right?

B-But if you're trying to prevent,

there isn't a weapons system
on board the Ocean Turtle.

I said that I would fight.

F-Fight?

But the satellite
connection has been cut off,

and there's no way
to contact the Ocean Turtle.

There is a connection. There must be.

Wh-Where?

Heathcliff.

No, Akihiko Kayaba. We need his help.

Mr. Higa...

you'll help, won't you?

K-Kayaba-senpai?

He's alive?

A copy of Akihiko Kayaba
and a copy of Kazuto Kirigaya.

If these two copies... no, these two people
were to meet, what would happen?

Could it be that I've opened Pandora's box?

I want to see.

I want to know what will happen.

All right.

I have some old
contacts I can reach out to.

I'll send out some encrypted messages.

If you're going to take a nap, do it after
you're done with your sacred arts homework.

Are you planning to copy mine again?

Hey! I tweaked that skill
you taught me the other day a little.

Let's head to the training hall later.

Hey, you snuck out again
to buy some snacks, didn't you?

Of course you got some for me, too, right?

Come on, wake up, Kirito.

Kirito.

I should've had them
delete all of my memories!

All the memories of the two and
a half years I spent with Eugeo!

Hey, tell me about it, Big Brother.

What happened in that world. The good.

The bad. Everything.

When I first met him, deep in the forest,

Eugeo was just a woodcutter.

It might be hard to believe,

but for three hundred years,
and over multiple generations,

they were trying to cut down
a single cedar tree.

Kirito.

I...

...feel I'm might wither away.

Incoming Call Rinko Kojiro

Next time: New World.