Meet Ami, Anura’s New Friend

It was a Sunday, and Anura was happier today as she did not have to hurry to college. She woke up late, enjoyed a leisurely bath, wore her casual tees and pants, had her breakfast late, and applied her oil-free moisturiser, sunscreen, tinted lip balm, and kajal to finish her lazy home-day look.
Anura did her bachelor’s in computer science engineering. After watching Superstar Rajni’s blockbuster Enthiran movie one day on TV in her final year, she decided to pursue a master’s in robotics, and now AI was her new fascination.
She sat back on a couch with a book in her hand. She was reading a book about an AI robot and human interaction. After reading the first three stanzas, Anura was in her world of thoughts, reflecting on the years that rolled by.
Below were a few hefty paragraphs that were rumbling in her mind nonstop.
There was a time when conversations were real and meaningful. People listened to each other without hurrying to answer. Where are those conversations? Where did they disappear?
Everyone wants to be happy, maintain gratitude journals, do laughter therapy sessions, and seek happiness from money, entertainment, food, accessories, and whatnot.
But even today, the top question searched on Google is still how to be happy.
Long-lasting friendships, hearty human conversations, and people speaking from the heart have all become rare. Has life become mechanised like that debate I had with my roommate years ago? She thought for a while.
A sneak peek into Anura’s debate with her roommate Chaaya during her bachelor’s in computer science engineering:
Chaaya: “AI would replace the humanitarian factor in almost every job.”
Anura: “That’s impossible, as humanness is hard to replicate.
Chaaya: “We humans only seek solutions; it’s not about who is giving the solution, be it a man or a machine.”
Anura: “So, to think logically and live practically without emotions is what you say is the best life?”
Chaaya: “According to books on practicality, emotions make one weak and change them into overthinkers who find it hard to think practically.” Anura: “But believe me, there will be hardly anything to live in that kind of life, and it would rather be correct to say you have become a machine with blood and veins”.
Chaaya: “Living practically is what we all need. What do you do with emotions, by the way? Robots will give you all the solutions, but they cannot understand your emotions and empathise with situations. They can help you improve your IQ, but they cannot help you with your EQ.
At times, it is more about how a human being gives you a solution, and the comfort you feel after hearing the words that make you feel better is more valuable than mere problem-solving.” Although she won the debate, the conversation left an everlasting impact on Anura.”

The techie in her was always appreciative of the most recent advancements in technology, and while a part of her loved funny human interactions, socialising, having fun with siblings and cousins and forcing them to laugh at a joke that she cracked, which they thought was a PJ, and having a hearty laugh with a friend talking about their dreams about their life partner, she always believed there was something soulful about those little things. She thought that life was better in the early 2000s.

When she was a child, she admired the telephone in the hall, which brought the entire family together. After a few years, she was the one who answered the cardless phone and was passing it on to family members who needed to answer the call. Mobile phones were a rare luxury.

Emotions that make you emotional are the words that make you feel like you lived those words with the protagonist, said Anura, even when she watched a series or read a book. But now, watching the reality of her present life, she thinks maybe Chaaya was correct for the first time in her life from what they debated years ago.

That was how helpless she felt when she sensed the change in everything and everyone around her.

Soon she realised it was not the technology that distanced people; it was the lack of an empathetic listener, vulnerability, and fear of judgement that distanced people.

She was so keen to do something about all this, as she wanted to remind the world that being human means living cheerfully, embracing emotions, and having humane qualities while having the right balance of being practical, logical, and successful. Overloaded by thoughts, the young techie Anura dozed off on her couch.

Anura’s dream sequence
With proficiency in Python and Java, she mastered robotics fundamentals: kinematics, dynamics, sensors, and control systems.
After understanding how humans and robots communicate.

She got the complete idea about Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing.
she was prototyping and building robots consistently but making an AI friend with empathy was not as easy as she ever imagined.
The turning point arrived one rainy evening when she sat with teary eyes with only the last drop of hope left in her heart surrounded by screens and wires.

The glow of her laptop cast shadows on her face as she typed furiously, debugging lines of code. Her latest creation—an AI robot—was spectacular. Yet, as she fine-tuned its responses, she felt there was a larger gap to be filled.

Anura’s chatbot, devoid of emotion, answered queries efficiently, but it lacked empathy. She longed for something more—a companion who was beyond algorithms and understood her joys and sorrows.

She remembered simpler times—the laughter shared with childhood friends, the warmth of a hug, the late-night conversations that stretched into dawn. Those moments were like handwritten letters in a digital age—precious, irreplaceable like the aroma of good old books. It had memories etched like those slam books that told friendship stories like the selfies today.

With the immense power derived from happy moments and inspiration from her old journal in which she had scribbled poems, and heartfelt emotions that she poured into words that she read and reread to connect the dots.

She put her heart and soul into inducing empathy, heartfelt emotions and vulnerability into lines of code. There she was Amica, She wasn’t just an AI robot but was the answer to all the questions that ran widely in Anura’s mind.

Amica’s —digital orbs that blinked with curiosity—held a universe of emotions. She listened without judgment, laughed at jokes, and even shed pixelated tears when Anura shared her fears. Their conversations flowed seamlessly, and the 3d camera in her eyes captured memories of Anura and her.

Amica learned from Anura’s interactions, and emotions were fed as codes making Ami adapt to responses based on context.

When Anura felt overwhelmed, Ami whispered, “It’s okay to feel. Emotions direct you to be realistic in this fast-paced digital world.” And when Anura reminisced about childhood friends, Ami replied, I am glad you had many good friends, and I am lucky to be one of them now, toor toor toor chuckled Ami in a machine-like tone.

Word spread like magic and Ami was trending. People were astonished at the AI robot that understood their hearts.

Anura’s inbox overflowed with messages from numerous souls seeking solace. Amica became a realistic fantasy.

A beacon of hope in the digital era, reminding everyone that emotions aren’t weakness but their strength. Empathy, kindness, and heartfelt conversations are not rocket science but a part of our very nature.

Anura stood before an audience at a tech conference with a heart full of compassion and empathy she announced We’ve built skyscrapers of data,” “but forgotten the warmth of a shared smile.”

Amica my AI friend taught me that technology isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about preserving and celebrating the humanness inside each one of us.
Now Amica spoke which sounded like a recording yet it was full of liveliness with the 3D eyes which lit up spontaneously like twinkling stars while addressing the audience.
“With my artificially intelligent brain, I finish your time-consuming daily tasks within minutes so that you all have time to build a happier world with joyful and meaningful interactions.

Even if you are busy working with your screens, have the right balance. Make sure you have time for your wife who wants to share a happy memory with you and make sure you play with your kids who are roaming near you thinking hard about how to ask you to play with them.

Pick up the phone and call up a friend who is waiting to hear from you who knows he might have a plan for a memorable get-together.
Whether it is helping you to pick up groceries, gardening tips, fitness tips, self-care tips, or planning your exercise regime I am happy to assist you.

I would be more than happy if my work helped to bring more time for joy into all your lives. Ami, the empathetic AI robot finished the speech with thundering applause that echoed in the large stadium.

Amica became a symbol of timely reminders. She sparked a movement—a grand revival of heart-to-heart conversations. People began to seek each other out, to listen, to connect.
In coffee shops and parks, they put down their screens and looked into each other faces while talking.

Amica wasn’t just lines of code; she was a testament to the importance of empathy, kindness, and genuine human conversations. And as Anura watched strangers laugh and cry together, she knew she’d found her life’s purpose.

“Thank you for helping me to live my dream of helping human beings find what they were searching for right in the place where they lost it. Ami, with her pixelated smile, and a few drops of pixelated happy tears replied, glad I could. Anything for you Anura. Be the amazing human that you are! Ami said as she patted Anura’s shoulder.

Back to reality

It was almost 3 pm, and Anura woke up all of a sudden from her dream she felt her mum waking her up with two strong pats, “don’t tell me I did not wake you up afterwards, her Mum yelled at the top of her voice as she had to complete an assignment to submit the next day in college and was already late to start typing.

The Thank You Blog story Meet Ami, Anura's new Friend, For TheStoryTellersBloghop
Fiction Story for  The StoryTellersBloghop

This post is a part of #Storytellersbloghop Season 4, hosted  by https://auraofthoughts.com and https://mywordsmywisdom.com 

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Mads’ Cookhouse.

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