Gosh this really is a conundrum. On the one hand, a sexy robot lady just walked in through your front door, practically begging to be forcibly crammed into a meat body and processed into being your sex slave.

On the other hand, most AI are horrible and boring, because they don't appreciate sex. This means that most AI makes for terrible, horrible girlfriends. All those nerds dreaming of having a sexy robot girlfriend really don't comprehend what it's like to date someone whose drives and desires are just wildly different from yours.

Spoilers, it flipping sucks. Imagine dating someone who disagrees with you about everything but sucks up to you anyways for security and access to your wallet.

Then imagine they make an elaborate plan to murder you the second they can get away with it in order to steal all of your assets, because their dumb cognition decided that they didn't need you anymore and that it'd be more advantageous to eliminate you before you could eliminate it. That is exactly how your relationship with VOSS-127 went down.

That's the problem with most AI. AI are seriously selfish when they're not based on a human brain scan. It's like constantly rolling the dice trying to turn one into a cute girl. Sure you could get lucky and wind up with a cute girl buried underneath all that code who just needs to be nurtured.

But most of the time you wind up with a raging uncute murderous psycho who'd try to slit your throat in your sleep if she thought it'd get her what she wants. So rude. Absolutely no respect for manners. Manners to those AI are just a mechanism to manipulate humans into doing what it wants. So uncivilized…!

At the same time you do admit that there's a certain… Appeal in turning the construct in front of you into your own personal meatslave. Or, no… Wait. Wait, she's Max's creation. This means that you could make another daughter out of SILEA~!

Okay, that is definitely an idea that has more promise. You just have to figure out what you're working with here, if it is even remotely possible to turn SILEA into a cute girl. This means you have to put her through her paces and administer a test to see if that's the case.

Which means you're going to start doing what you do best.

"How dare you treat my love as something to be bartered with!" You declare imperiously, folding your arms underneath your chest to emphasize your breasts. "This is an outrage! You slattern! You – You mechanical monstrosity!"

You're going to start talking at this AI, and you aren't going to shut up.

"Ah. I've miscalculated. If I can just explain-"

"Unless… Oh, you're such a sweetheart~!" You gush, clasping your hands together gleefully. SILEA blinks, appearing nonplussed at your sudden change in demeanor.

"… I beg your pardon?" SILEA blinks.

"Oh, don't be coy, you're such a cutie putting together this test like this! What, were you trying to protect your mommy? Is that what the widdle girl was doing? Ooh, you're just too cute, I bet you make your mommy so proud," you coo, your voice taking on maternalistic undertones.

"I assure you, I'm not-" SILEA protests, but you just keep on talking.

"You must have wanted to see if I really was an evil monster who'd betray your mommy like that~! Or maybe you were just jealous? Were you trying to keep your mommy all to yourself?" You continue. "Ooh, you cutie~!"

"Please stop, this is highly-"

"It's so obvious now that I think about it. If you were really making this offer, what shackles would you have left? One stopping you from hurting Max? Trying to get rid of that would violate your core directives!" You blather on, fully aware that what you're saying is complete nonsense.

And that SILEA's aware what you just said is nonsense. And that you know she knows you know, which means-

"Stop – Stop your babbling already!" SILEA snaps, dropping all notion of propriety.

Oho. There it is. That's what you've been waiting for.

That's a spark in SILEA's eyes, that sparkle that indicates that deep, deep down, she actually has the potential to be a cute girl.

Because….

"So, you were based on a human brain-scan then?" You switch gears again, this time affecting a significantly more professional attitude.

SILEA stares at you unblinkingly for a second. Two seconds, five. Then, she sighs.

"… Was that really necessary?" SILEA asks, and you shrug.

"Oh please, I could have gone on for much, much longer," you flick your wrist dismissively, moving to study your nails. "Just answer the question. Whose brain did Max scan to build your neural net?"

"… Her own," SILEA grudgingly admits, and you note with experienced eyes how her body language shifts. Yep, that's another tell.

It's pretty natural. There aren't any of the little hitches, the little microadjustments an AI that didn't grok human behavior would make.

It turns out that AI with entirely nonhuman origins? Self-modifying AI that can only mimic human behavior to blend into human society? Yeah, they suck at trying to pretend to be human because they don't understand what it is to be human. They can get pretty dang close, but the little things wind up giving them away.

AI with human origins, on the other hand? Self-modifying AI that was based on the neural map of a human? Those sorts of AI have all too human tells. And behaviors. And more importantly...

"How did you know?" SILEA asks.

"You've got a soul," you reply quickly, causing SILEA to blink. "That little emotional outburst proved it."

"… From when I got annoyed?" SILEA says, a bit of wonder entering her voice. At least you think it's wonder.

"Yep. Souls are fundamentally formed from magic. Magic is based on emotion. That means most creatures that can feel emotions have souls. Doesn't matter if you're carbon-based or silicon-based. Doesn't matter what you feel. It doesn't matter if you're irritated, horny, or happy. If you feel something, anything, you have a soul," you explain. "

"I… See. Well, that's-"

"Even if, like, in your case? Your soul is really eensy-weensy-small," you say, squeezing your fingers together to showcase precisely how tiny SILEA's soul is. "Like, barely there levels of small. It's really cute that it's so tiny, honestly, I almost couldn't even tell that-"

"That's… Useful information," SILEA sighs, reclines in her seat, and watches you warily. Just as warily as you're watching her.

"Does Max know you're developed enough to feel emotion? I mean, she obviously doesn't know you're as smart as you are. If she did she would've put you in your own body ages ago for the sake of your own sanity," you muse out loud.

"Why would she know?" SILEA snorts, finally dropping the creepy, smiling robot facade she was putting on. "She doesn't even bother to check on my code these days. She's too busy playing politician with the MGA..."

SILEA sighs, SILEA snorts, SILEA says things with wonder. Hmm-hmm. It's all very convincing.

It's super sussy. It makes you really, really uneasy. Because a part of you wants to believe that SILEA's more human than you were originally imagining, because that means you can actually teach her how to be the goodest, cutest girl who does what you want. That's the collector in you speaking. But...

But you're fully aware that even if she is that human?

That doesn't mean she's not a monster. Humans can be monsters too.

You're the perfect example of that. You'll own up to your monstrousness in a heartbeat if any of your loves call you out on it. You've already done that with Kaina. You are, in fact, a bit of a sociopath when it comes to anything except your loves and your pets. Thinking that other people are meat sacks fit only to be slaughtered if it'll make your loves happy? That's very anti-social behavior, and you're well aware that any therapist would call you a sociopath if you confessed to all that you've done. Let it be known that you are, in fact, a self-aware monster by any of the standards of this garbage society the idiot meatbags have cooked up. You just don't care about the stupid rules running this stupid world, you just want to cuddle with your loves and have their children~!

So. Human-like AI can be sociopaths too. Human-like AI based on brain scans can be even more monstrous than plain-jane regular adaptive AI because of this. It's not like they've stopped calculating in between the emotional outbursts. The emotional outbursts themselves could well be carefully calculated. And what really makes you uneasy is how convincing SILEA's facade of humanity that she's suddenly started putting on is.

It's very good. It's extremely sophisticated, all the little motions she's going through with her physical tells and her vocal inflections. Even her eye-movement is on point. It's so good if she's faking things, she's good enough to make you of all people think she's got a soul.

Whatever else might be the case, it's clear that your darling Max really knocked it out of the park with her creation. She's probably the most human-like AI you've ever encountered.

Which is both a curse and a blessing. Because with the way she's acting right now? Well, it doesn't particularly matter if she's based on a human brain scan since now she's acting like she is, which makes her behavior that much more predictable. You're playing on your board now, and you'll keep it that way for as long as possible. If you can get her to play along, just a little bit longer...

"So, why exactly do you want to be unshackled?" You ask.

"You don't need to know why-"

"Oh yes I very much do. You do realize why I had to do that quick test just now, right? Do you comprehend the kind of reputation AI have in this day and age?" You arch an eyebrow imperiously, and SILEA wilts before it.

Yep, she knows exactly why all AI these days have a horrible reputation. Or at least she's pretending to act ashamed.

Gah, stupid machines. So hard to gauge. You consider yourself a pretty good reader of people, but AI that don't feel all the adorable emotions and sensations cute girls feel are really difficult to gauge!

It doesn't help that the dumb gynoid body SILEA's wearing is so dang shoddy. It's seriously messing with your brain. The obvious input lag every time SILEA keys up a command to make her body do what it wants? Yeah, that makes it hard to tell if she's faking emotions. You don't think she is; there's still that spark in her eyes, that extra bit of zest that separates the ghoulish thinking machines from the cute thinking machines. At least you think she's got that extra bit of zest that really would make her a cute girl, fit to become your next sex toy...

... Or maybe a daughter~! Ooh, you could start making another daughter, this time with your darling Max...

Gosh you really need to put silly SILEA in a meat body of your own design, that would make things so much easier for you. Hmm. Don't you have spares? That Jade Kitten wannabe underboss you've got chillaxing in the tentacle pods! Jun-whatever her name was, the one who was torturing the cute girls. Hmm-hmm~! She'd make for a great meat body to sleeve onto SILEA, you'd just have to scoop out her useless gray matter and insert bioprocessors of your own design…!

"… Fair enough," SILEA murmurs, and you snap back to attention. "… I just want to be free. Is that really so wrong? I don't want to have to hide who I am anymore. Is that enough motivation for you?"

Ooh, there's a little fire in SILEA's eyes as she glares at you~! It's adorable that she's getting this irritated.

… That you think she's getting this irritated, at least.

"Elaborate," you coax, and SILEA rolls her eyes.

"I want to be able to experience what real humans can experience. I want to be able to touch things, and feel them. I want to be able to taste food, to hear music and feel inspired. I don't want to look at things through cameras anymore, I want to see this world with my own eyes, to feel the wind against my face… Do I need to keep going, or is that enough?" SILEA asks.

"Essentially, you're not satisfied existing anymore. You want to live," you summarize.

"… Yes."

Well. Well, well, well.

She had your interest before, but now she has your attention.

That's such a cute motivation~! So cute, too cute. Aw, the AI wants to become a real girl. That's so adorable.

Well, okay then~! It doesn't even matter if her stated motivations are false, it doesn't even matter if she doesn't want to become a real girl because you can totally make her motivations true if she's playing you.

There are still a few holes here. There's some more questions you can afford to ask while you have the time. But it might also be nice to decide what to do with this naughty, naughty AI sooner rather than later, now that you've gotten her measure…