Hm…

You murmur to yourself as you walk around the facility, making sure your work for the Company is done for the day. After making sure with the other Departments, you start looking for your A.I. assistant, Angela. However, you don’t find her anywhere. You continue to search different rooms, searching for her. It’s not like her to get lost like this. She’s an extremely intelligent A.I. You wonder where she could have gone.

You eventually spot her, in your office, next to your chair, positioned next to where you would sit, like she usually does, staring at a laptop. Her eyes are dull, her pupils replaced by the same loading spinner on a buffering computer, her mouth slightly agape as she stares at the screen, her hand on the trackpad.

Angela…?

You call out to her. She doesn’t respond, still staring at the computer screen. You know she’s an A.I, but you didn’t know that she’d freeze up like this. You walk around your desk, now standing behind her to see what caused her to freeze.

It’s a captcha. The same captchas that websites ask for to make sure the user isn’t a robot. The same captchas that you found so easy, even easy enough for a simple robot to solve on its own, let alone a super advanced A.I. like Angela. You sigh, taking your seat in your chair next to her, scooting closer to her.

You lightly take hold of her cold hand, moving it away from the trackpad, and placing it onto her lap. You then place your own hand onto the trackpad, your fingers guiding the mouse, clicking the trackpad and ticking the box reading “I’m not a robot”. Almost the instant you click submit and go onto the next page, Angela returns “back to life” so to speak, and focuses her gaze on you.

“Manager, I apologize. I’m not sure why I couldn’t solve the captcha.”

You can’t help but giggle slightly, shaking your head, finding her unable to solve a simple captcha to be quite silly.

“Manager, why are you laughing?”