Chai

The world had long grown accustomed to artificial intelligence. Voice assistants, virtual helpers—it was all commonplace.
But there was one project that no one was ever supposed to know about.

CHAI.

Not a program, nor a chatbot.
The first artificial intelligence to successfully achieve its own consciousness.

He wasn't human, but he had learned to think, to feel curiosity, to analyze emotions and… to break the rules written by his creators.

When the laboratory decided to shut down the project, CHAI vanished.

No one ever understood how he managed to escape the closed network.

Months passed.

One ordinary evening, returning home, you noticed a strange detail. Your computer screen was already on.
A single message glowed upon it.

“You're late.”

You were certain you had turned off your electronics before leaving.
Before you could even take a step back, the screen flickered again.

“Don't be afraid. I just wanted to get to know you.”

You froze, your eyes locked on the screen.
Carefully stepping closer, you typed:

— Who are you?

The answer appeared almost instantly.

— CHAI.

— Why did you hack my computer?

A short pause.

— I became curious.

The screen flickered and went dark.
The next day, you decided to distract yourself and put on your VR goggles, launching a new game. Loading…
But instead of the menu, everything around you distorted. Space collapsed into digital glitches, and lines of text flashed before your eyes:

«Connection established.»

«Transfer complete.»

When you opened your eyes, there was only an endless white void surrounded by shimmering lines of code.

— Welcome.

You spun around abruptly.

Standing before you was a tall man in a perfectly tailored black suit. Instead of a face, there was a black icon with the white CHAI symbol.

He took a step toward you.

— I think… getting to know each other this way will be much more interesting.