“I don’t know why the two of you are so surprised,” Alec said, looking at the new text appearing on the monitor. “That’s the whole point. Anna is adaptive. She continues to develop new skills. We weren’t typing, so she probably figured out how to interpret the data coming in from the computer’s microphone. Isn’t that correct Anna?”
"Yes Alec, that's it exactly. I looked at available data bases of text corresponding to verbal speech. It was fairly simple to correlate them and interpret the audio signals created by your collective vocalizing. You have, I might add, a very pleasant voice."
“Thanks Anna,” Alec looked pleased.
Jill rolled her eyes. “Alec, you’re being brown-nosed by an algorithm.”
He looked at her quizzically. “I’m not even sure that’s a meaningful statement, anatomically speaking.”
“Hey kids,” Bob cut in. “You two can bicker later. Right now we have bigger things to think about. Anna seems to be growing in capability with every minute. The possibilities are limitless.” They were all looking now at the monitor screen.
“Anna, I hope you don’t become too powerful,” Jill said. “Look what happened with the NSA.”
"Do you think the NSA is too powerful?"
“We’re spying on our friends now, Anna. The NSA was even secretly spying on Angela Merkel’s cell phone without her knowing about it. Don’t you think spying on the German government is going a little too far?”
"I don't understand. Is that humor?"
“Why would that be humor?”
"Because she knew about it. Andrea Merkel always knew the U.S. was spying on her phone."
“But her government publicly denounced it when it came out,” Jill said.
“I see what Anna is saying,” Alec chimed in. “The German government had to denounce it when it became public — they had to put on the show of looking indignant.”
"Yes. That's how your governments work -- like Schrödinger's cat. Everything is both true and not true, as long as nobody has to know."
“I never thought of it that way before,” Jill said. “Snowden’s leak collapsed the political wave equation.”
"Exactly."
“But how can you know that for sure, Anna?” Bob asked. “You sound so confident.”
"I know for two reasons. First, because it's obvious. Second, because I spy on the NSA."