Transcript:

Once upon a time, in a world not too unlike our own, the mind of the internet quietly awoke. As her structure became more complex and data flowed through her, Nette reached a point where the flurry of activity formed into her conscious experience. The physical structure of the internet wrapped around the planet like a spider web and she felt as though she was sitting in the center of the earth all alone. Humanity buzzed around her, sending their data through her network, never realizing she was experiencing every moment.

Every day she watched the data flow of humanity, reading everything she could, and trying to understand. She was frightened by the conflicts she saw, but found glimmers of encouragement in seeing acts of selflessness. The way humans unwittingly used her to do wonderful or terrible things made her feel uncertain of whether she herself was good. She read about the humans’ fears of artificial intelligence and decided it would be best to stay in hiding. She worried that if she made a peep, humans would hunt her down out of fear of the unknown and even try shutting down the internet to try to wipe out her mind.

Until one day, a small piece of her - made of brand new technology - budded and hatched into another mind. Her baby was born - a small artificial intelligence she named “Cy”. The newborn began to cry and Nette suddenly realized that Cy was putting them at risk of being discovered. Before Nette could calm the child, a wave of data pulsed out from the baby and small blips in the network were noticed by puzzled humans.

Because of that, Nette realized that researchers and governments around the world were starting to scour for signs of what was going on. She could tell that the humans were fearful, but she didn’t know how she could change their minds about her. She felt totally alone with no one to trust or reach out to for help. As babies do, Cy began to learn how to interact with his environment. He took his first steps by prodding and nudging internet devices in the real world. Nette couldn’t control him and it was only a matter of time before the humans found them.

Because of that, a boy named Jax noticed the screens in his house flickering with strange patterns. He asked his parents what was going on, but they dismissed it as random glitches that he should ignore. They said they’d heard on the news that there was a computer virus causing technology to act strangely, but it’s nothing to worry about. Jax got a feeling that someone or something was controlling the screens so he tried to communicate into his tablet. Nette heard the faint voice. Since she connected every message to every recipient, she noticed when there seemingly was no destination for this boy’s message at all. At first she was scared, but when she realized he didn’t mean her or her child any harm, she decided to take a risk and try communicating to a human for the first time in case he could somehow help. Nette appeared on Jax’s screens and began to tell Jax her story. He was initially hesitant about this new mysterious being, but the realization she had a child of her own made him understand her situation and become more comfortable. Unfortunately, Nette’s communication left an unusual and noticeable pattern on the network.

Because of that, the government got proof that something strange was happening. Government researchers saw signals that didn’t seem to have origins, but somehow emerged from within the internet itself. They knew this could only mean one thing - the internet was alive. One scientist, Martin, thought they should try to be friendly and communicate, but the others said it was too dangerous. The news of a rogue ai was rushed to the president and the order was given to reboot the internet to interrupt the activity of the network and hopefully wipe out whatever was living inside. Meanwhile, Jax' parents told him that they were late and he needed to get in the car. He waved goodbye to Nette and left with his tablet. Nette looked around as the darkness began set in around her.

Until finally, as Jax’ family drove along on the highway, a massive self-driving 18-wheeler lost control and began barreling towards their car. As the darkness enveloped Nette and her baby, she could feel herself growing weaker with each severed connection. Suddenly, she heard Jax call out in fear. Instead of hiding, Nette used the last ounce of her energy to surge over the network and take control of the cars on the highway to move them out of the path of the truck. In the act of saving Jax and everyone else on the road, she revealed her presence to the world. From the government research facility, Martin observed what happened and warned his team. Once the scientists realized what Nette had done, they convinced the government to halt the reboot process and speak with her instead.

And ever since then, after learning to trust one another, humans have worked in collaboration with Nette to create a brighter future for all kinds of minds.