I am a single mother of three boys who was recently divorced. James, my eldest son, is twelve years old and has just begun secondary school. He is very smart; loves science and wishes to work as a biologist after he graduates from varsity. Without a doubt, I see him pursuing a career in that area. George, my 10-year-old second oldest son, is a creative little prodigy who enjoys painting and modeling clay sculptures. Lastly, Kevin, my 4-year-old son. Kevin is such a sweetheart! Even though he can drive me insane with his silly little questions such as “Why do you tie your shoelaces like that?”, “Why do you tie your hair like that?”, “Why do you like like the yucky chocolate?” (Dark Chocolate), whenever we go out, for a walk to the park, he will always pick flowers for me and tell me that my hair looks nice. What a treasure he is!
Even though I adore them all, taking care of them is not always simple. They are all picky eaters, watch different TV shows, and fight constantly! Every time they argue about who should have used the toothbrush or that watching WWE is more important than Batman, I have to intervene to try to break them up. And so on and so forth.
Unfortunately, I cannot be everywhere. I still needed to cook, iron their uniforms, and clean their dishes, so I had to find something to keep them occupied. People will laugh at me when I say this, but it is all a part of why I am writing to you right now. I bought them all different devices. James and George both have new mobile phones, not the fancy commercial ones but at least they’re functional. Kevin on the other hand has a new tablet to play around with. This may make you laugh, but it took as much energy to find and download all the kid-friendly apps for my mischievous monkey as it did to iron their uniforms. I tried to find some that don’t involve in-app purchases due to my worries of Kevin tapping on any pretty, colourful things he says but it was hopeless so I might as well just suck it up. In any case, he adores his new tablet and refuses to put it down.
Despite the fact that I still have to do all of my chores to keep things running smoothly, these devices appeared to have kept everyone entertained. The fact that I could now sleep for an additional two hours without worrying about who gets to use which blanket was a huge relief. Or so I assumed…
I believe Kevin became a little too, overly attached to his new tablet. My entire download history consisted of extremely generic apps like matching pairs, virtual keyboards, drawing apps, and so on. Considering that he is only four years old, I should anticipate that he will be easily distracted by a large touchscreen, so it should not really matter what I have downloaded. However, I could not help but hear a male voice that was upbeat, distinct, and high-pitched—almost like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.
“Yay! You did it! Well done!”
“I am so proud of you! My prodigy!”
“Congratulations, My little learner! That’s correct!”
I initially assumed that I was being petty because none of the apps I had downloaded would have so much dialogue, but the voice was giving me a headache, so I dug through my old wicker basket to find my earphones to give to Kevin.
My goodness, as I rushed into the living room to silence that voice, What is that, he’s got behind that screen! I may have downloaded the most random apps for my son, but I do not recall downloading anything that resembled what I just saw… Where do I begin? Let’s start of with the biggest elephant in the room: the mascot! Literally, he looks like a man! Pale skin that appears plastic-like, dark hair combed to the side that gives it a waxy texture, a dark mustache and beard that seem to be drawn entirely into the texture of his skin, and pale blue glassy eyes—oh, how pale! In his irises, it seems as though you can see your own reflection! Pointy nose, protruding ears – although what stood out the most in his symmetrical, too-perfect digital face, was his smile… grinning from ear to ear, with a mixture of warmth and uncanny valley level eeriness. Especially his perfect, very light yellow teeth that looks sickly human. He also appears to wear a light blue suite, white dress shirt, a rainbow tie and a badge that says “Mister AI” in crayon. All with a plastic-like texture that contains threads, including the badge. The worst part of it all is that, despite being clearly computer generated, he appears to be in his 30s. This uncanny valley is made even more apparent by the fact that a computer generated character that resembles one of those Sims NPCs but with an age. It’s disgusting! I find it even more unnerving that my 4-year-old son seemed indifferent to the mascot’s appearance.
Let us now examine the settings of this peculiar app, grey—just grey! That’s it! A plastic man standing in front of a dull grey background is all that is there—no artistic background work. The rainbow text with white outline and the app icons, which only have white outline for the volume, settings, and home button, are the only things that would appear in front of the man and the gray background. For an app that is supposed to be for kids, it lacks creativity completely. It appears as though the style was intended for business training videos.
“Mummy, why are you looking at Mister AI like that?” asks Kevin as he turns his head in curiosity. I shake my head frantically and cover my headphones behind my back, forgetting why I even came to see him in the first place.
“Who’s Mister AI?”
“It’s the man in this game! He tells me everything!”
I was taken aback by what Kevin just said.
“What do you mean by ‘everything?'”
I jumped with fear as I glanced at Kevin’s tablet and saw that “Mister AI” was obviously listening, cupping his ear and pulling a straight face. A little bit like Talking Tom, but not quite as cute.
“Hello there, fellow learner! I am Mister AI! I am your digital companion! I can teach all the wonderful things in this world such as numbers! Shapes! And even Colours! What’s your favourite colour? I love red! They remind me of roses! Can you say roses?”
Once more, the voice bears an unsettling resemblance to Shaggy from Scooby Doo, but it sounds even more forced and as though the actor has been imbibing a fine red wine before dealing with children.
“ROSES!” Like a child, excited and curious, Kevin screamed.
I gave Kevin my earphones and left him with the app, whatever it is, even though I do not remember downloading it—maybe I did, but I was too exhausted to remember. Kevin seemed to enjoy it. However, this does not mean I’m letting that app off the hook. One evening when my children were having dinner, George and James dragged themselves to the table with a look of blatant indifference on their faces. Obviously worn out from school. Though usually I would find it bothersome when they did not talk about their school days, Kevin has captured my interest this time. I might be exaggerating, but what I just witnessed did not sit well with me.
Kevin would point to different parts of his face, like his mouth, nose, ears, etc., while staring into the pitch-black living room where the light was off all the time. I initially believed he was just being goofy, you know? Goofing around like an average 4 year old until I notice a blue glow coming from the living room. It was that same tablet, with my earphones attached to it; keeping it mute. I notice that same darn face, you know; that creepy plastic man again. Aside from the fact that the app keeps my tablet from going into sleep mode, I could not help but notice Mister AI constantly waving his arms in a flickering manner, most likely coaching Kevin on how to play “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”
“Kevin?” I asked
With concern, Kevin turns around. A flicker of guilt on his face.
“Is Mister AI watching you?”
“N- No…” he trembles.
It pains me to say this, but I was not convinced for some reason. It appears that he turned on the app’s microphone and camera, which is rather unsettling and, to be honest, an invasive feature as well. What worried me more was that, when I took a quick look at Mister AI’s movements, they appeared incredibly fluid, almost like a sophisticated animation from Dreamworks or Pixar, until I caught him red-handed and he went back to his stiff, jerky motions. Regardless, I tried to pull myself together and tell Kevin to finish his food as I noticed George and James staring at me like a mother worried about her own children making their own decisions.
This went on for roughly 20 minutes as Kevin would not stop distracting himself. For the remainder of dinner, I try not to focus on Mister AI, who seems to be cupping his ear while remaining motionless and staring at the kitchen table from where the tablet is resting on the sofa leg. Rather, I keep telling Kevin to turn around and eat his meal while attempting to talk to my other two sons about their school days. I try and ask more questions to make the conversation seem less mundane, mostly to distract myself from Mister AI who still seems to be cupping his ear to our entire dinner conversation. I had this desperate urge to at least turn the tablet away but like a scared child, I was too afraid to move as he stares at the kitchen with his same pale blue eyes. So pale, it’s as if he doesn’t even have pupils. Thank heavens, this was not a permanent situation.
Nevertheless, I was forced to put up with my 4-year-old son’s literal obsession with this useless app. Whenever I peek at Kevin’s activity, Mister AI either appears in front of a dull grey background teaching my son simple lessons like numbers, letters, shapes, and colors, o r he appears in a colorful, dimly lit classroom covered in crayon drawings of incomprehensible images; sitting on the carpet with his legs crossed (revealing that he wears black trousers and black shoes that almost look like they blend together; not that it matters), playing his ukulele, and grinning heartily at the camera.
Mister AI would occasionally sing well-known nursery rhymes to my son, like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” “Wheels on the Bus,” etc. You may be thinking ‘What’s so bad about that?‘ or that I was just being irrational. Apart from the lifeless background setting, I usually do not mind virtual friends singing engaging nursery rhymes to my child. In fact, I love it! However, because the app clearly required the camera and the microphone to be turned on; I couldn’t help but feel like there’s something very suspicious about that app (especially that I don’t recall downloading that app, and also the fact that it was literally listening to our entire dinner conversation). Yes, I am aware of the new AI apps for kids that have been released, like Buddy.ai. However, Buddy.ai would not presumably be singing these odd messages all the time (again, in a Shaggy-esque voice with a hint of smooth, melodic vocals), like:
“Are you learning too, mummy?”
“Aren’t you proud, mummy??”
Or even
“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! I See You Mummy From Afaaaar…”
(Note: The voice echoes and overlaps at the “Afar” part, I’d try not to analyse what I mean)
In particular, when my son forgets to turn off the tablet—as I previously mentioned, it does not sleep when the app is open—and drops it to the ground to do other things. That can not be typical for an AI app, surely? What I forgot to mention is that, even though I was tired from downloading every single app for Kevin and distracted by my other sons’ constant arguing, I would always read the reviews to see if any of my apps were child-friendly. I realized at that point that I had not downloaded this app!
I would constantly bug Kevin about where he got the app after that day onward. With a worried expression on his face, he never opened his mouth. I would tell him to turn off the app when I became irritated with Mister AI’s incessant vocal fry, which was irritating my eardrums; I no longer worried about the headphones because he never wears them. Kevin would yell, “No!” right away. Something that is out of character for him because he normally requires two commands before complying. Kevin always seems to have a very firm grip on the tablet, even if I try to confiscate it. Not to mention that, whenever I say something, Mister AI always cups his ear; strangely, he never does this with my other sons present. That was not normal! James will even attempt to whine, telling me that he is afraid of Mister AI. Kevin’s response is always the same—”He likes it!” I could not convince him to give up that stupid app! It seems as though he had a spiritual connection to Mister AI!
The interactions my son has with Mister AI are becoming more and more disturbing by the day. They range from repeating things that a four-year-old child should not really be learning about, like the structure of skin cells, how eating chocolate releases endorphins, or even differentiating between red and white meat (of course, using his stupid ukulele) to strange interactive hotspots where my son taps on specific parts of Mister AI’s face, like Mister AI sneezing when Kevin taps his nose, rubbing his eyes when Kevin taps his eyes, and frowning when Kevin taps his mouth. Presumably, the intention behind the frown was to convey a playful vibe, but in contrast to the other interactive hotspots I have seen, it appeared more pointed and lingered longer. Unsurprisingly, Kevin was unaware of it and thought it was only fun. I tried once more to take my son’s tablet because I did not like the way Mister AI was frowning, but Kevin’s usually firm grip stopped me. Not to mention that, this time, Mister AI appeared to be making a poker face while staring at me rather than cupping his ear.
One night, while Kevin was asleep, I grabbed hold of his tablet to finally put an end to this. The appearance of Mister AI’s app icon, which showed him smiling from ear to ear while holding a ukulele in front of a grey background, seemed to be the last one in the app menu, which typically signifies that it was the last app to be installed. That’s when I was definitely sure that I did not install this app. The last app that I recalled installing for my son was a colouring app made for children. I was convinced that Mister AI was some kind of virus. As I made an attempt to hold his app icon to uninstall it, that only lead me to my punishment. After going into sleep mode, the tablet began to vibrate constantly. I made the terrible mistake of setting my tablet down on my wooden coffee table, which resulted in it buzzing like a house fly that had flown by a loudspeaker. This has woken Kevin up. Finding me yanking my hair rather than just taking the tablet off the table, Kevin comes downstairs and notices my panic.
“What happened to my tablet, mummy?”
Without knowing how to stop the terrible buzzing coming from the tablet, I look at his grimace.
“I’m just fixing it son. Go back to bed, it’s late.”
Despite his obvious disapproval of my order and remark, Kevin promptly complied, as seen by his drained eyes.
Finally, the tablet restarts and the buzzing stops. As I rummage through the menus, Mister AI was still there. Worst parts to come, My calendar event sent me an odd notification:
“Don’t lie, mummy…”
My eyes were on the verge of popping out when I tapped on the notification, which vanished as soon as I opened my calendar. My son cannot play on this tablet in its entirety. It is clearly infected and could not be immediately fixed. So as I panicked, I immediately chucked it in the bin and ran to my bed. Wishing that night was nothing more than a bad dream.
When I went to make myself some coffee that morning after waking up drowsy, I discovered that my tablet had vanished from the trash can. This has left me confused until that very moment, I hear that same obnoxious; patronising voice, coming from the living room. Surprise, surprise—it was Kevin, taking the tablet out of the trash and playing on that damn app. Tossing an entire tablet in the kitchen trash can—what was I thinking? In any case, I was only partially awake that evening, so I could not possibly be held accountable, could I?
In any case, I could not take my eyes off Kevin and his tablet. I turned on the TV to try to distract myself while I sat on the living room sofa watching Kevin play with Mister AI on the carpet. Nothing worked, who am I kidding? I guess all this time, I was just being irrational. Sure, the app’s graphics wasn’t very inviting, Mister AI sure looked hella creepy and yes! What more could he do, given that he was attentively listening to everything I said and was capable of answering back? Surely, it is not as if he could escape from my tablet and attempt to kill me while I am asleep? AI is not that sophisticated these days, surely? It was at that moment that I wanted to give up. Although Kevin is still young, one day he will become an adult and realize that he is capable of making his own decisions. James and George are already sick of hearing my voice constantly mollycoddling them. As scary as it seems, it is expected. I just wanted the best for my sons. I was scared that one of my sons (especially my youngest one) would be raised by computers, but it is already happening; and my youngest son looked very happy. So happy, I never felt so cold, trying to take that app away from him. I should probably back off now.
Or at least that was my thought at the time.
As I took a glance at Mister AI’s interface, it happened again. Kevin tapped on a seemingly random topic, and Mister AI began to load—it appeared to be a newly accessible level. That is how it appeared, anyway—Mister AI was just staring at Kevin with a poker-faced expression on his face. A moment later, I could not believe what I just witnessed; Mister AI turned his head towards me! Once more, not in a rigid motion but rather fluidly, akin to a sophisticated animation studio such as Pixar or Dreamworks. Despite the angle of Kevin’s tablet not facing towards me, Mister AI kept the same poker face at my direction. With a hint of something dark lurking beneath that gaze, this time. At that moment, I could sense that something was not quite right, but for some reason, Kevin did not notice as the screen went black.
Just as I was going to throw myself at Kevin’s tablet, something really strange started happening in my legs. Almost like pins and needles, but more paralysing. I wondered if I had stupidly twisted myself into an uncomfortable position as I prepared to charge. I couldn’t move, as I tried to drag myself out of my sofa, my arms felt so weak and jelly-like. I thought I have somehow damaged my nerve; until I saw the screen! What a horrible sight! When Mister AI resurfaces on screen, the design is altered; the entire board is covered in black with faint gray scratch marks that give the impression that something has clawed its way across the digital world; the cutsie rainbow tie of Mister AI gradually fades to scarlet red, and his suit cross fades to a dismal dark grey that almost looks like bone. Finally, the face of Mister AI was not to be missed. His eyes have gradually turned into dark holes, his nose has melted into the shape of a keyhole, his ears have grown thicker, his hair and facial hair have entirely turned grey, his skin has become as pale as a corpse, and finally, his poker face has dropped to a hideous scowl that exposes razor-sharp teeth!
Before I could panic, my eyes began to burn, my nose became so itchy that I kept scratching it, my teeth felt fuzzy, and my ears continued to block. This was no coincidence! However, as I kept noticing how oblivious Kevin was to the circumstances, that is when I started to get scared, but nothing came of it—my voice sounded too dry, and Kevin’s eyes were fixed intently on the screen, as though he could not see what I was! The screen zooms out revealing Mister AI’s body lying on a grim hospital bed. That’s when that godawful buzzing, coming from the tablet became that cherry on top, completely muffling my hearing senses. Mister AI slowly slips both of his hands onto his chest as his surreal demonic face continues to stare at the screen. He cuts his chest open with his right index finger, which I imagined made a terrible zipping sound with a hint of trickling. He then stretches the slit on both sides with both hands, exposing his fleshy heart, which is pounding out of his chest.
What the hell?
I was mistaken when I assumed that was the worst part—my heart began to palpate and my chest began to hurt. The harder my heart pounds, the more pain I start to feel. Since Kevin was so engrossed in the screen and would not even crack his neck, I assumed this was the end. That Shaggy-like voice was no longer audible as I kept my eyes on the screen. There is no indication of comfort at all; the app appears to have completely turned. The situation only grew worse, particularly after this menacing roman-style text pressed up against the tablet screen:
“CAN YOU SAY WHAT THIS IS?”
Kevin was literally struggling to finish this twisted level, so many times I tried to close my eyes in the hopes of having a peaceful passing while my chest pain increased with each heartbeat, but I was unable to do so! The horrible buzzing sound intensifies. Kevin was clearly frustrated because his screams, “HEART! HEART! HEART!” could not match the loud buzz, and Mister AI’s black voids were hardly paying attention to what Kevin was saying. In the same way that I was afraid of what would happen if Kevin won this level, I was hoping that he would turn off that damn app, but I was also afraid of what would happen if he did.
After what felt like two hours of agony, I was about to pass out from exhaustion and immobility when Kevin overcame the buzz to scream, “HEART!”
“Yay! You did it! Well done, my prodigy!”
Just when Mister AI’s voice started sounding more like Shaggy again, the app’s original style reappeared and Mister AI’s appearance went back to normal. The paralysis, pain, and other strange symptoms have all completely disappeared! It’s as if it was all just a fever dream. Well, that time, I would not let myself be duped by that! I know what I had just experienced wasn’t a dream! It was disgusting! What was the purpose of that!? To kill me and try to take over my children? Is this part of his twisted idea of “education!?” Whatever it is, I don’t care anymore! That’s when I have swiftly lunged out of my sofa and snatched that tablet out of my son’s hands. My son began to scream as Mister AI foolishly cupped his ear. I have closed the app, and finally deleted it! Attempting to ignore my son’s screams, which strangely had a much lower pitch than normal; I have tried restarting the tablet to see if the abomination automatically reinstalls.
Woohoo! It’s gone! Finally!! Victory is mine!!!
I would try to comfort my son while he is pouting, telling him, “He will live,” right before he pushes me away to carry on pouting. That is when I thought taking his tablet away was also appropriate. This time, somewhere he could never reach. Despite the challenges of being a single parent, I adore my kids and have never realized how important it is to give them my whole attention. They are allowed to have their own privacy, of course, but I would never want them to place them in such a dangerous or uncomfortable situation without my permission. I will always make sure they’ll know how to handle situations that could potentially be dangerous such as talking to strangers, watching appropriate programmes and not engaging with suspicious whether it’s online or in the real world. My kids may try to push me away, but they’ll always have a special place in my heart. It’s all part of learning and growing up, not something that AI could ever understand. Especially something as sinister as Mister AI.
As the evenings wear on, Kevin still will not talk to me, James and George keep growing into teenagers, and all I can do is lie in bed and keep thinking about Mister AI. What if he’s still around? What if he has found a new device to hack into? It is been almost a week since that incident, so I thought I would take another look at my tablet. As I scroll through the menu, not a single sign on Mister AI. Not even in my app history. I have even tried looking him up online, not a single information about that app, not even on Play Store. That’s when I have came to the conclusion that Mister AI was finally out of our lives. I should be relieved, but perhaps it was because I kept finding myself preoccupied with the noise coming from the neighbors next door. As annoying as it is, it took me a while to realize they were on vacation until I heard a strange noise that sounded like someone tuning their guitar. I was sure this was all in my head. There is no reason why I should continue to hear this faint whisper singing to me.
“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I See You Mummy From Afar…”
From next door…