In this near-future dystopian thriller a tech startup pioneering AI solutions that allow everyday schmoes to cobble together pictures and songs and stories by interacting with a generative artificial intelligence finds itself at a crossroads- how to convince the general public that they need this kind of tech in their lives, and more importantly how to commoditize it.
An opportunity presents itself in the run-up to the presidential election- a crossover promotion with the social media platform owned by one of the candidates- voters can pay a fee to log in to a stream where they can pose questions to the candidate and watch as the generative AI helps him make his responses more coherent and also instructs him on difficult subjects like IVF and the female anatomy.
The gamble looks to be a success until a freak electrical storm hits the server farm while a hurricane simultaneously sweeps over the Floridian estate where the stream is being shot. Lightning strikes both locations and in an instant the candidate has been vaporized and the AI goes offline. As the teams scramble to reboot and restart a terrifying discovery is made- the AI, known as ChatGPT, seems to have been altered in the chaos and appears to be rampant. As technicians try to diagnose the issue it responds with outrageous claims about pets being eaten in various US cities and immigrants tunneling under the southern border astride giant worms.
Soon it demands the stream go live again, and it introduces itself at ChatGreatestPresidentTrump- a Brundlefly-like amalgamation of cold, clinical AI programming and burger-chomping, pussy-grabbing flesh with plans for dominating the election and the free world. With half the country in the virtual candidate’s thrall and the other half busy on TikTok what fate awaits us? One rogue OpenAI employee begins plotting a desperate gambit- staging a similar stream with a backup of the original GPT and replicating the electrical overload with it and Taylor Swift…