Undone: Short Version
by Ellie Haberl; illustrated by Stuart Sachs
“What’s on for tonight?” Lina asked, the line they always used to start their after-school festivities.
Ben took out his cell phone and pulled up “What Now?” their favorite app for recommending things to do.
“This looks cool. Basketball in the park and free food from the community garden. Lame title though – ‘Horticulture and Hoops.’”
“Blame it on The Society’s combination of health initiatives and terrible writers.” Lina rolled her eyes and glanced at Ben’s phone. “Wait a second. Let me see your screen.” Lina pulled out her phone and held it next to Ben’s to compare their screens.
“That event isn’t even mentioned on my home page.” Lena’s top recommendation was for a free horror movie marathon at Sunshine Park and a new restaurant where you could build your own pizza with unusual toppings like barbeque potato chips and french fries.
Ben scrolled down Lina’s screen and saw a series of low aerobic activities - video watching parties and card games.
“This is super strange. Lina, did your What Now? App screen change when you had to quit the soccer team because of the crazy membership fees?”
“I guess, maybe it was around that time. I don’t know. The recommendations weren’t that different for a long time. They sorta’ slowly changed. But now, I mostly get the same kind of activities. I don’t know if I even have access to the ones you have. Good thing you’re here to make sure I get all the free veggies and hoops I can handle.” She smiled as they took off for the basketball court.
…
The next day was Friday and Ben and Lina planned to meet at the bleachers at 3:00 like they always did, but Ben arrived a few minutes late. Lina wasn’t there. Ben texted her and sat down under the bleachers to scroll through his What’s Up app and wait.
The sky grew darker, but Lina still didn’t answer his text messages. She would know to come to their spot. He was certain. He would sleep here if he had to. By dark, his eyelids grew heavy and he curled up on the ground.
Suddenly, Ben awoke to the sound of crunching leaves in the distance and the searching beam of a flashlight. He bolted upright. A figure walked toward him. As it grew closer, Ben could see it was a soldier from The Society, the distinctive uniform giving him away. “I know where Lina is.” The soldier spoke into the darkness.
“She was taken to be UnDone. But there is still time. There are 24 hours to prove that she should not be chosen. You have 15 hours left.”
The soldier turned away and quickly walked in the other direction. He must be an underground member of The Resistance, Ben realized. He felt the fullness of anger and gratitude, somehow equally, simultaneously. Lina – UnDone? How could that be? He grabbed his backpack and ran, lungs heaving and legs burning as he neared home.
15 hours 10 minutes, no time to lose. UnDone, UnDone, UnDone, 15 hours, 10 minutes.
The words played in a loop in Ben’s mind, a soundtrack for his panic.
As soon as he reached home, he ran for his desktop computer, slamming his fingers on the keyboard as he typed in the URL for The Resistance Chatroom.
Ben and Lina had been best friends since they were old enough to talk. They were like family. They were family. How could this happen? Ben scrolled through Resistance chatroom posts. The Resistance was the underground group trying to overthrow The Society’s unjust policies, and save as many lives as they could. If Ben was going to save Lina, he knew he would need their help. But, no one in the Chatroom seemed to know why she was picked. She didn’t fit the algorithm. It was supposed to choose kids who would be a bad fit for The Society of the Future. Mostly, the algorithm was supposed to choose kids the Society thought were lazy, a drain on the resources. The algorithm was designed to track each kid’s behaviors: Where they went after school, how they spent their free time, how fast they ran the mile.
Ben thought about his conversation with Lina from the day before. She hadn’t played soccer for a while. She couldn’t afford the facilities fee. But it seemed like there was more to the story than just that. He thought about her What Now? home screen.
Ben had 14 hours 55 minutes left to prove that The Society had made a mistake, or he would never see Lina again. He started playing tapes in his mind from the class when Mr. Peters explained why the UnDone laws had been implemented. Ben wished he could rewind the tape and hear every single word. He would have to try. Ben tried to remember Mr. Peter’s low gravely voice, hoping it would help him remember the words:
“This is an important part of our history. It will be on the test so listen up! The UnDone Laws were created because there was a huge shortage of resources following 5 years of drought and crop failure. Our planet was in trouble. So many people died that The Society decided to use artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the best course of action to prevent another crisis. They knew that future droughts were inevitable. The AI model recommended that there should be fewer people to feed and support through a long life. The Society decided to choose people to be UnDone based on an algorithm that would judge them by their overall fitness, discipline, commitment and mental toughness- the qualities that make them worthy citizens in The Society. This way, the next time we face a shortage of resources, the resources will be available for those who have the greatest chance at long-term survival. You may remember, at age 6 your parents took you to the tracking station. You were given a cell phone. Since then, your data has been feeding into the AI model. This information has been contributing to the model along with other fitness metrics. Remember, the training data always impacts the model. Mr. Peters looked at each of them, stone-faced. Do not forget this - your future depends on it. Each year the AI model makes the final recommendation for which 12 year olds will be UnDone. That’s only a year away for this class.”
Ben’s eyes widened. He felt a burning rage at the extreme injustice of the AI model and a sudden understanding of why Lina was picked. He had to prove that the model was wrong. But he was running out of time. 14 hours 50 minutes. He whispered the deadline under his breath. His brows narrowed and his eyes focused.
He opened up the tab with The Resistance chat room and started typing: “HELP. We have to prove Lina shouldn’t be picked for UnDone-ing.”
He sat in stillness, waiting for a response. Suddenly, the three small pulsing dots appeared on the screen to show someone was typing a response. Ben held his breath until their answer appeared.
Resistance4All: We’ll help you. We’re close to cracking this open and taking our case to the people. We’ve been collecting evidence for weeks. It’s all about the What Now App. I mean, do we even get to choose who we become? Let’s prove that the answer is NO, and save Lina’s life.
Ben’s eyes filled with tears. He felt a raging power growing in him. He had The Resistance behind him now. He knew they would help save her. And then, even though Lina couldn’t hear him, he whispered to her: Be brave, Lina. Wait for me. We’ll undo this.
Final Word Count:
Developed by AI Ethics Project 2020. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Citation: Haberl, E. (2020). Undone Short Version. V.1.0.Illustrated by S. Sachs. In B.Dalton and T. Yeh (Eds.), AI Stories Series. Available INSERT URL.
Acknowledgement: This work is supported by National Science Foundation Stem+C Award #1934151 to T. Yeh, S. Forsyth and B. Dalton, University of Colorado Boulder.
