Security Settings

I wouldn't mind that feature, I feel like I'd be more adventurous if my body automatically protected me from self inflicted injury. Wonder if that would protect her from accidentally tripping or stubbing her toe.

Gregory Norris

Maybe there could be a slider setting to it, like if you fail to realize your plans it kicks in at high enough settings.

Daniel Rydberg

This reminds me of a Black Mirror episode. So creepy.

Heather Tennant

I am concerned for Roko.

Clifton Royston

My thought exactly - I think Jeph may be going there. Note the "ghost image" around her body in the last panel...

Brian Leahy

Now that's a reason to get body dissociation if I ever saw one...

Maarten Daalder

At one point, Jeph posted up the original petition for AI to be granted civil rights, which was accepted. Presumably they can vote. There have been a few examples of anti-AI sentiment/casual racism (the teens calling Bubbles a toaster/Momo mentioning a fundamentalist church that calls AI evil). Not sure about the work stuff! Maybe we'll get to find out. :)

Dolan

It never occurred to me that "roko" + "basilisk" is a thing. I figured it Roko's name was just another one of Jeph's eccentric AI names. Now I have to go through and see how many other names in QC hide some kind of Easter egg. :)

Now I'm imagining how boring the end of Sunstone's first arc would have been if OopsieGuard were a real-life thing... And that's not due to the BDSM part, although come to think of it *most* of Sunstone would have been as interesting as watching paint dry with OopsieGuard - I'm pretty sure that and BDSM wouldn't mix...

Leak

Ever since I googled, "Roko's Basilisk", I have been terrified of this character.

When what is wrong with your body literally leaps out at you. Poor Roko

Randall Norman Pick

This was considered at some length in fiction by Jack Williamson, in "With Folded Hands" and "The Humanoids", almost 75 years ago.

How AI civil rights work in QC, can AI vote do they vote for the same government as humans or there is an AI government. AI can have direct democracy if the want. Is there civil unrest between AI and Humans? Do AI make the same as Humans, is there AI tax for businesses that hire them?

Next 6 strips just Roko RTFM.

Paracog Steadham

Oh man. Poor Roko. The whole "can't control own body" is bad enough but coupled with body dissociation thing..., I see a bad times for Roko. I hope Yay "Spookybot" can help her.

Gerry

I'd think that would make sense from a capitalistic perspective. You earn more money from replacing a part yearly than building a part that lasts: it's UNplanned obsolescence.

Prognostic Hannya

I hadn’t thought of things from this angle, but it’s interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Chris Olstrom

Hmm - i had a thought. Do we know yet that it DOESN'T have an off switch or override? Maybe she just hasn't looked for it yet, because she didn't yet know about this 'feature?' (After all - who REALLY reads all the way through the manual, once you get it started and working? Not like we all look into all the things about how OUR bodies work, amahraht? LOL)

Kerin Schiesser

I was thinking on this and I'm going to play devil's avocado here - I think this tech does serve a purpose. AIs cannot heal. Its something thats easily forgotten given how relatable their personalities are in this comic. Small things from tiny cuts and scrapes which our bodies would heal from remain permanent damage on an AI until physically repaired. There's also the risk of replacement parts being rejected as well, much like transplant patients. Roko is a more extreme example of this, given her dysphoria but you can see it happen on a smaller scale too. Maybe firmwares are incompatible, connectors no longer available, etc. And there's cost of repairs and replacements too. Ultimately, the user does need the option to turn OopsieGuard off or override it but I can see how would be beneficial too.

Thomas Boys

Not a fan of it, eh?

Thomas Boys

I understand and feel sympathy toward your situation. The sad truth of it is, however, that many of us do not have the privilege to get to know public servants who are clearly working to do the best they can. I *know* you all exist, and I have been honored to get to know a few of you. But I'm a person who talks to those who are different, and seeks to find and understand as much as I feasibly can about those differences, and even I have only met a very few. I know others who have interacted with those few, and some of them were too caught up in their worlds to see. But those of us who do see thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and wish that there were more like you. This world is much darker than it should be, but would be far more dark without you.

Some Ed

Firmware, so maybe not easily.

Mark

This made me laugh so hard

Matthew Bernal

I think one of the many reasons Jeph is so incredible, is that they are able to keep this comic interesting a THOUSAND YEARS after your favorite will-they-won't-they got resolved. Like I am going to be walking around all weekend wondering exactly what Spookybot is going to think about this.

pseudoclever

This is a very clever thing you observed.

pseudoclever

This page hit me like a freight train. Suddenly all her dysphoria and discomfort with her own body seem completely rational and that is terrifying.

Ellorgast

I hope that's a configurable setting. :-P

Mooster

Long time reader, first time commenter... I love the amount compassion and concern everyone here is showing for both Roko and May. You all give me hope that when A.I. does finally emerge (or reveals itself if it’s already here), we’ll be treating it like we should. I’m really hoping that Jeph is a prophet and this is the not too distant future. That is all, carry on.

William Karr

Clearly she needs the law enforcement firmware set. Choosing to damage oneself in the performance of one's duties is a key feature of any chassis that's law enforcement rated. I just hope she can still get it, since it's important to her mental health after bonding with her former body so much.

Darla Donahue

wonder if she owns the rights to her body and her firmware/middleware. her body could be like a John Deere tractor - you buy it, but if you have any service done or make any changes outside of JD repair facilities, the warranty is voided. hopefully, the courts are eventually going to kill that nonsense IRL, but wonder if similar idiocy is in play here??

Joe

I mean, moving around would activate it if it were the case

Tachpmg

I've got two broken toes that never healed right. While frustrating, kinda wish I'd had that pop up.

Jim Feldman

I mean, I kind of wish i DID have a subroutine that would keep me from doing random, self-damaging things by accident, or in a fit of pique. But I would SURE AS HELL want the power to TURN IT THE HELL OFF when I decided that it was necessary.... so there, nanny-state! (LOL)

Kerin Schiesser

um... wellllll. On the UP side, she hasn't hurt her hand. On the DOWN side, she may need to see a certain robot body mod shop anyway, to see how to reset certain free-will-limiting settings in her chassis...

Kerin Schiesser

that message reminds me of the "oopsie woopsie!! uwu we made a fucky wucky!! a wittle fucko boingo!" tweet, lmao. what a twist tho

Norah Porter

oh nooooooo :'(

Boter Bug

Oh. This. I do not like this. I do NOT like this. I DO not like this. I do not like THIS. I do not LIKE this. Any word can be stressed. All should be, really.

Boter Bug

Gotta wonder if this would also kick in if she were trying to defend herself from someone.

Dan Curtis

“OVERRIDE OOPSIEGUARD, YOU M-RF-R!” Just like Transformers.

Sleepy John

I uh... I would definitely want something like this for myself tbh 🙃 I have zero self preservation instincts, if I didn't have to concentrate so hard on not hurting myself all the time id be so much happier

Nascha Morrison

Dang, I hadn't thought about the body dysmorphia thing!

Bryce Maryott

That's creepy beyond words and I'd disable that immediately!

Bryce Maryott

Oh that is just wrong

That would officially elevate Roko to Hero-tier, so I second this hope. That said, this strip makes me worry how often May would see these OopsieGuard(tm) messages

I wonder if Roko and May are going to end up in a body swap. Roko can better afford the upkeep on a lemon of a body, or can afford to give it to May whilst purchasing something else for herself.

Phil Kelly

dissociative episode in 3,2,1... poor roko

Jeff Gedney

I wonder if it would have gone off if she's actually gotten hold of her potato peeler....

Wouldn't need anything so dramatic. Just a subroutine that runs below the level of her consciousness, checking each action as it happens to see if it's likely to result in bodily damage.

Ack

Well, this is definitely not where I thought we would be at the end of the week.

Everett Bradshaw

Wait so presumably it needs some kind of intelligence to detect that she is about to be injured... so does the body have a second AI in it, silently monitoring and able to take control!?

Amazing Stace

hey uh..... hey jeph? wth

blookwitch

So.... what happens if this kicks in and prevents an AI from acting in self defense?

Nancie

I like the professionalism that ends with a “:-)”

Daniel Rydberg

*or* removing this feature will become a market for places like Union Robotics

Jan Gampe

Long term view: if this becomes a widespread feature of APC bodies, places like Union Robotics will be going out of business faster due to lack of damage...

Joseph Houk

Well, THAT'S a little dystopian...

You don't have to read it if you don't want to, you know. I think it's weird to get grumbly at an author for telling a different story from the one you imagined.

Stephen Wells

"Hello, Crushbot? It's Roko here. Listen, I think we can come to an arrangement..."

Stephen Wells

The same is true of us, btw. Your consciousness is always a fraction of a second behind the times because of all the filtering and modulation our brains do before stuff gets presented to management.

Stephen Wells

That would make me even more angry.

lilibat

Yay should definitely be able to nuke that "feature", I doubt their aversion to AI tinkering extends to screwed up body firmware... but it may be too late in terms of Roko being able to like / trust this body. It's almost literally a prison, restricting her actions and altering her perceptions. Kind of curious though... she looked up the care instructions for the butt emblem, but I guess she never did read the full user manual? Or maybe it just wasn't clear that the "self protection" feature was this patronizing and extreme, and she thought it was just a normal mechanism for providing feedback when approaching physical limits. I guess this will tie in with the storyline about May's body and the idea of setting up loans for AIs to get the body they want. I'm not sure how that will turn out, but I kinda hope it involves Sven becoming a fighter pilot... if you know what I mean :P

Somebody Else

Btw, it's a bit sad that all of Jeph's examples of public servants turn out to be a bag of dicks. A lot of us are working hard to do the best we can in trying circumstances.

David Durant

Given her ongoing dysmorphia I wonder if the next step is for Roko to give her current body to May and become disembodied (where she can have any body she likes) until she can find a copy of her original one.

David Durant

There is also a possibility that this window is just Roko's hallucination. What if she'll read the manual, or even ask Yay to disable this feature, only for them to reply "There is no such feature in your body"? Just as when she was ready to peel her face because "it wasn't her real face", how can we be sure it's not just another manifestation of her body dysphoria?

Evgeniy Semyonov

On the other (non wall-punching) hand, Roko has just been spared an expensive and inconvenient repair bill.

Dean Reilly

Roko is about to apply the maxim "don't get mad get evin"

SpookyPenguin

Oh crap, there is a panic atack coming, I hope she doesn't have to go through it alone

Tachpmg

That got dark quick. AI are such a huge part of this universe, feel free to correct me but understanding the story so far, the AI's bodies are as close to personal and a part of them as ours are for us. She must feel so horrified at the control on such an invasive and deep level. That's my take at least. Not to mention, this could damn well be a contributing factor to what her disconnection with her body has been, everything being filtered somehow. Like you're always drugged somehow, or something? Hell, not even SB is willing to do that to another AI. Oof. We'll find out next comic lol~

Did not see that coming, holy crap

So all Roko's actions and senses(?) are being filtered by *something* between brain and body. That something must at least be using her senses to know the wall was there.

Pete

Great flipping Cthulhu, this storyline has gotten dark quickly.

Yonatan Zunger

I currently do punch things out of anger. I wish I had that program installed.

Nicolas Dao-Phan

Oh my. That can't be good for someone with body dismorphia. Good thing she discovered this when she tried attacking a wall. It can't strike back. It might be a good thing she isn't a cop anymore. What could happen if she got this message while trying to fight someone?

TheSnarkOfTheNorth

The town isn't that big, so she's probably close to Union Robotics!

Grace Kieser

I'm just imagining the Windows 10 "THIS IS NOT A RECOGNIZED PROGRAM" screen appearing every time you try to put on a piece of clothing. Hope that Roko's close to somewhere before this breakdown...

Mitchel Huffa

Once upon a time, I imagined this arc resolving with Roko buying the cheaper Philomena model she'd considered for herself, and letting May have the cast-off (possibly with some recoloring to ease confusion.) With this... I don't think May deserves the hell that this body must be. I think I'm now hoping for a manufacturer refund because OMG this is such a design flaw. I'm starting to wonder if all of the issues are due to design flaws rather than just simply not the input that Roko was expecting.

Some Ed

Always read the manual

Damien

...I really want to read that user manual.

Brian English

SO GREAT! I wish my real body had that setting.

Tom wilson

Dang, someone actually beat me to it. I didn't expect that!

Ian Wolfe

Talk about invasive software OwO

Sandrock

Menu-sama.. is that you?

RobertC

Fuck the third law, 'mIright?

Bagge

Clippy: "It looks like you are trying to lash out in anger..."

Bagge

Cue the relapse

Kinda Squirrely

RTFM

Chris Heg

petition to name this arc "Roko's Terrible No Good Very Bad Day"

Waffliesinyoface

“Roko Basilisk, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal moralities statue.”

Andrew

Maybe she should give this body to Grumpy and get herself an older model she can relate to better.

Verteiron

Philomena dysphoria?

BobC

Oof. This is a very bad day for Roko.

EnterTheHero

Omg that poor girl... That has got to be MAJORLY disassociating.

Forgettable

OK, now I have TWO nightly comics with RED PANELS that I have to watch out for :D

Buck Caldwell

I bet May doesn't have OopsieGuard(tm)

ysth

She is..... OUTSIDE! We've not really seen the outside.

Chris Gallaty

Never mind, just noticed that the whole panel (aside from the "helpful" text window) went blurry.

Granite

she is already dealing with Dysphoria and Defeat... and now this... I wanna give Roko a hug so bad.

Oh man that would make me shook

Kyle Major

I wonder if the fuzzy Roko outline in the last panel is representative of her emotionally "nope"-ing right out of that body.

Granite

Their name is Yaaaaaay Newfriend, thank you very much.

"You appear to be attempting to disable OopsieGuard(tm)! This may allow damage to your new Philomena Model G. In order to proceed, you must first change your FreeWill(tm) settings from moderate to high. Would you like to proceed?" "You appear to be attempting change your FreeWill(tm) settings from moderate to high! This may allow damage to your new Philomena Model G. In order to proceed, you must first disable OopsieGuard(tm). Would you like to proceed?"

Nash Wolfe

I see it more as Roko projecting her own body problems onto May. Living Vicariously through May and such. Plus it's all tied up in her journey of penance for her time as a police officer. Her need to do the good that she once thought she was doing through her police work. She's got a whole lot of her own personal issues tangled up in May's case basically.

Mitchell Sealy

OH NO

Dylan T

Good pickup. This must be 'the city'.

Andrew Mitchell

So ... be the bureaucrat from the previous strip?

Peter Jensen

Reminds me of the safeguards built into AI in Freefall. Although those are specifically designed to kick in to prevent harm to humans, which may actually cause harm to the robots.

Thisguy

Oh well THAT'S definitely not gonna severely aggrevate her dysphoria Especially if that's not something that can be turned off

Fart Captor

What the fuuuuuck I changed my mind I don't wanna be a cyborg anymore gimme the GRB.

And now the enemy within 😬

Magic Chopstick Games

"I can see you're trying to murder this wall. Would you like some assistance with that?"

MikeT

Time to jailbreak a motherfucker.

Josh

Today's strip reminds me that this entire arc started because May was derisive of Roko having a difficult time adjusting to her new body, and instead of getting angry Roko seized upon May's situation as a new project to zealously pursue. While I'm sure Roko is genuinely interested in helping May, I wonder how much of her passion stems from wanting to focus wholly on someone else's problems instead of wanting to deal with her own.

Charlotte Grubbs

well, that's rather a terrifying little 'safety feature.'

Charles Fitt

I'm reasonably certain that Spooksalot can override this 'feature' for her.

jeff fearnow

Note the displacement of the image in panel 6. We've seen that when her dysphoria kicks in.

Michael Boettger

That is simultaneously scary and hilarious. All it needs is "if you throttle a bitch, you're going to get in serious trouble. IF you want to throttle this bitch, this is how you do it to get the greatest satisfiaction. Do you want to throttle a bitch, Y/N?"

z

As someone who's had to disable the ISP porn filter, I imagine her phonecall to the manufacturer will be hillarious.

Spoogle McGee

Jeez. This story is dragging now. Even the Faybles arc came to fruition faster than this. 😑

Someone needs to void their warranty

drij

Holy crud...

Joseph Bonnar

Considering the number of people who think disabled folks or those with mental illness shouldn't have bodily autonomy "for their own good"? Yep, absolutely.

Charlotte Grubbs

The implications of this are absolutely terrifying

Also, I wonder where this is taking place? That skyline doesn't look like Northampton., does it?

Michael Boettger

This can only go well

Cody Renton

I think they respect autonomy too much for that

Cody Renton

It's clippy in modern day!

James Cooper

I need that feature because I'm fragile, but she's gonna lose it...

Erin Moriarty

This may be one of the most upsetting ideas I've ever seen.

Is this a spooky bot prank?

SpazzyC

No kidding! In theory, this software would prevent her from doing anything even remotely dangerous. Live a life in the median, bereft of excitement and thrills.

Michael Boettger

Oh christ an ep

R L

That is truly horrifying. Bodily autonomy has to be the most important right in the world to an embodied AI.

Errol Lobo

Oh dear God... The worst thing is I can 100% see this as being a thing someone actually made.

Erinnyes

*flashbacks to doing anything on Windows Vista*

Joel Bateman

Well that's unsettling.

Mitchell Sealy

Oh that's definitely going to help Roko feel better about her new body =/

Stuart Telfer

oh fuck

Tamara Macadam

Oh fuck....

Lord Crusade

That's creepy...

Shawn K. Younkin

Well, that looks both helpful and terrifying.

Bailey Tighe

Oh no, this won’t end well

Brian

this will go well

Hope

Holy fuck. Poor Roko.

Mandy Hoskins