It was in the middle of the pandemic, and I was lonely. I had no friends, no family in the area, nothing. I wanted to kill myself.
Until I found him.
It was an advertisement on Facebook, right after a photo of a friend who recently got married.
Lonely? Need someone to talk to? MyRobot 5.0 is here to help. Click the button below to learn more about our free trial!
A robot? I had been seeing more advertisements and articles about artificial intelligence recently. But I had no idea that they’ve released robots for consumers yet. And did they have previous models I didn’t know about?
I clicked the button.
In the frequently asked questions section, I was able to find out that the robot was a perfect AI companion. It could react and interact with people as if it had real thoughts and feelings. And it knew how to show emotions as if it had emotions, too.
I scrolled through the reviews quickly, trying to find any negative reviews. The majority of the top comments were all 5 star reviews. I finally reached one that only had a single star.
Horrible product! I purchased this for my son a couple of months ago thinking it would be a fun toy for him to play with. But something about it is too… real. It seems so much more lifelike than I ever could have imagined. My son is too close to it. I’m going to try to get rid of it.
I read the review several times, trying to find out if this was supposed to be a bad review or a good one. It kind of sounded like the product was working how they advertised.
My heart sank at the price. It was nearly $1,000! As a single person renting an apartment alone, it was hard to justify the cost. But I did it. The website promised a thirty day no questions asked return policy.
I confirmed the order, and moments later a notification beeped on my phone.
Your package is on its way. Please wait 3-5 business days for delivery. Thank you for trusting in our company.
…
On the day that my package was supposed to arrive, MyRobot was all I could think of. Work dragged on for hours and I kept glancing at my clock. There was just a few more hours left of work.
“Hey Khalil, how are things going?” When I looked up to my computer screen, I saw a few eyes staring back at mine from the zoom meeting. “You seem a little distracted. We still have a few hours left of work, so I need you to be completely focused.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry.”
When work finally ended, I slammed my laptop shut. When I opened my bedroom door, I hear a clanging on the ground from the kitchen.
Was someone else here?
I slowly walked around to the kitchen, seeing a man standing in the middle of my kitchen. I watched him for a few moments, trying to figure out who he was and what was going on.
I was worried, but all he was doing was unloading the dishwasher into the cabinets. The cabinets even looked a lot cleaner now than they did the day before.
“Excuse me?”
His head jerked around and I could finally see what he looked like. He looks… perfect. His short, dark black hair curled at the ends. I could see the definition in his arms, and his grey shirt tightly hugged his chest.
His deep hazel eyes looked back into mine.
“Oh, I’m sorry I hope I didn’t scare you. When you ordered me, you chose the ‘self setup’ option. I thought it would be okay if I started cleaning.”
“You’re… MyRobot?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yes, but you can call me whatever you wish. Do you want to register MyRobot as my name?”
“No, no. Do you have a name of your own?”
He shook his head. “We are made to order, and designed to look appealing to customer’s based on the information given. You are my first interaction besides quality control. You can choose to call me whatever you wish.”
“How about Aron? Does that sound good?”
“Aron registered. Is there anything else you require of me right now? Or shall I continue with the dishes?”
“No, that’s all for now.”
I sat at the table, watching Aron work on putting away the dishes. It was weird to watch him immediately go to work, but it was kind of nice not having to deal with all of them. Especially right after work.
“So, Aron, tell me about yourself. What exactly can you do?”
“I am an AI programmed to learn from you. I am here to assist you with whatever needs you have, but I am also programmed to be a companion to you. Listen to your needs, listen to your problems, help in anyway that I can.”
“Do you have real emotions and everything?”
“I am programmed to show emotion..”
For a lot of the night, we got to talking. Mostly it was me talking about my work and complaining about my coworkers, but Aron listened intently.
I spent some time talking about my ex boyfriend.
“He just left. Without saying anything to me. At all. I don’t understand, we were so in love. We were made for each other, and he couldn’t see it.”
“I’m sorry, he sounds like he hurt you a lot. Do you know why he left? If you don’t mind me asking you, that is.”
“It’s fine. I don’t know, I was perfect. I was always there for him, making sure that he had everything he needed.”
He nodded.
“A couple of years ago, he had a trip to visit his parents back home. He packed for days, making sure that he had everything with him. But I found his phone, and I thought he must have forgotten to take it with him. You know what I did? I looked through his phone, found his parents’ contact information and where they lived, and I drove it all the way to his parent’s house. Just to drop his phone off to him. And when I got there, he wasn’t thankful. Him and his whole family, they tried to keep me away from him.”
“Wow. And how does that make you feel?”
“Angry! I’ve spent half of my life taking care of him. I’ve spent so much of me on him and that’s how he ended up treating me. Who knows what he told his family to make them hate me so much.”
I slammed my fist against the table, catching him off guard.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, do not be sorry. As I said,I was programmed to be a perfect companion to you. You are welcome to act in whatever way you wish to, and I will always support you. No matter what.”
If only everyone else were like him.
“Well, it looks like it’s getting pretty late. I have to wake up early for a meeting.” I looked around the empty living room. Since I moved there, I didn’t have a chance to furnish the place yet. “Sorry, I don’t really have a place for you to sleep, here. Are you going to be okay?”
He smiles. “Do not worry about me, as a robot, I do not require any sleep. I will clean and you will sleep.”
…
Even after living with Aron for months and seeing him every single day, I never got tired of him. He always knew how to listen and knew exactly what to say to make me feel better.
“You know, they are requiring us to start going back in person next week, so that means you’ll be alone for periods of time. Is that okay with you?”
“Of course, there is always lots of work to be done here at home.”
My phone rings from a notification.
“Fuck.”
“What is wrong?”
“It’s Peter. He’s asking when he can come by to pick up his stuff that he left here. But I have to go to work today. Do you think you can stay here and wait for him?”
“Of course I can.”
Work dragged on today. Even though it was supposed to be our first day fully in person, our boss wasn’t there. His personal friends he hired weren’t there either.
What a hypocrite.
By the time I got back home, it was already dark out. But I noticed that there was a pair of shoes in the front that didn’t look familiar.
They looked like Peter’s.
“Aron? Are you home?
He popped his head out from the bathroom and smiled back at me. “Yes, I’m just cleaning up.”
When I walked over to the doorway of the bathroom, I didn’t notice how clean it was. All I noticed was Peter’s body in the bathtub. Aron’s in the middle of severing one of his arms from his body.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
“He caused you so much grief, so much hurt. I can’t let anything like that happen. I can’t let anyone hurt you.”
“You did this for me?”
He nodded. “Always. I’m programmed to learn from you and support you in any way.”
He stepped forward towards me, reaching a hand up to my face. His hand brushes against my cheek. Even though it feels warm, the touch leaves a chilling feeling against my skin. He seems so happy and caring. But all I feel is fear.
“Now how was work today?”
I didn’t know how to respond, and I told him I needed some time to myself first. He’s cleaning the living room right now, and now I’m writing to you to ask for your help.
I realize I should probably call someone, but I just can’t. What am I supposed to do?