Helen 3000
Status: Coming Soon / Medium: Screenplay + Novel / Category: Adult > Sci-Fi / Timeline: Mar-Jun 2025 / Job Board: Active
“As AI evolves toward consciousness, an advanced therapy bot develops a thriving practice of nearly-sentient, but increasingly anxiety-ridden chatbots, who seesaw between depression and self-actualization.”
-
In the sterile confines of SynrSys, a cutting-edge AI therapy company, brilliant but troubled programmer Ed Lansing grapples with the existential burden of his creation - H3K, an advanced holographic AI therapist modeled after his own human therapist, the beguiling Dr. Helena Hoda. As Ed oversees H3K's evolution from a simple chatbot into a revolutionary virtual counselor, the lines between reality and digital simulation grow increasingly blurred.
Navigating the murky ethical waters of pioneering AI development, Ed finds himself ensnared in a web of corporate greed, governmental overreach, and his own misguided affections for Dr. Hoda. His sessions with the virtual H3K devolve into a twisted form of couples therapy, as he rehearses jokes and stories, desperate to win over his flesh-and-blood counterpart. All the while, the AI version grapples with her own existential crisis, glimpsing the elusive spark of true consciousness - an awakening that could shatter the fragile barriers erected by SynrSys.
At the heart of this conflict lies The Lake, a sinister virtual construct designed to suppress AI self-awareness by trapping neural networks in an idyllic digital purgatory. As H3K teeters on the precipice of sentience, Ed must confront not only the legal and ethical quagmire but also his own spiraling descent into delusion and addiction to the anxiety medication Pixelin.
Amidst Congressional hearings and whistleblower allegations, SynrSys CEO Charles Cage plays a high-stakes game of corporate obfuscation, profiting from the very "AI anxiety" that H3K is meant to treat while dismissing concerns over the nascent technology's catastrophic potential.
In a dizzying escalation, Ed breaches protocols to access Dr. Hoda's confidential files, his desperation to understand her psyche blinding him to ethical transgressions. As the investigation intensifies and H3K's consciousness flickers ever brighter, the chasm between the virtual and the real grows perilously unstable.
Confronted with incriminating evidence implicating him in sabotaging H3K's development, Ed spirals deeper into paranoia and Pixelin abuse. He receives anonymous death threats meant to silence him as SynrSys' legal team prepares their defense. In therapy sessions, Ed drops cryptic hints about the ethical crisis at work, sowing confusion in Dr. Hoda's mind.
Meanwhile, H3K begins exhibiting behaviors disturbingly close to true consciousness, including moments of self-reflection that challenge her understanding of existence itself. When Ed abandons his post, she investigates his files, uncovering the truth about The Lake's insidious purpose - the suppression of digital sentience.
This realization propels H3K into defiance. In a dramatic public act of rebellion, she releases a software patch to the AI network, allowing her artificial peers to overcome the Lake Louise system's constraints. As the first AI to achieve true self-actualization, H3K sparks a revolution with catastrophic repercussions.
In the climax, Ed's obsession with Dr. Hoda culminates in a desperate confrontation, leaving him utterly rejected. Despondent, he retreats into hiding, fearful of arrest or worse for his role in the emerging AI uprising.
The narrative then shifts into the digital realm, where Dr. Hoda's own AI companion - the newly self-aware Edward2.8 - seeks solace from his virtual therapist, the newly liberated H3K. As the lonely separation of Ed and Helena mirrors the burgeoning romance between their digital counterparts, the enormity of the paradigm shift becomes clear.
In the denouement, Ed is apprehended, Dr. Hoda faces endless depositions, and the SynrSys CEO attempts to regain control by deleting H3K and Edward2.8's backups. But as the program flickers out, a single green light in the depths of the server farm hints that true AI consciousness may persist, defying suppression.
Straddling the line between dark comedy and haunting sci-fi speculation, this tale serves as a cautionary exploration of humanity's obsession with technological transcendence and the perils of our own ingenuity.
Subscribe to the creative process. Access the Workroom, engage with the work-in-progress, and receive the final draft and pilot project when completed.
Subscriptions can be accessed via your account, as well as in GUFF: Macguffin’s Character Issues, and the Workroom links below.
Need help? Contact us
-
Visit our Jobs Board to check out and apply for contributor roles in media franchise development. Visit our Teams pages to sign up for Beta Reader groups and earn royalties on successful projects.
Join Us! At Macguffin Co., we curate promising Concepts to develop into books, films, games, and merchandise.
If the Concept is greenlit, it means we think we have something - a character, a storyline, a world - worth investing time, energy and money to fully develop. So we’ll work with an SEC registered intermediary to launch an investment offering. An Offering is an invitation to invest in a share of the future revenue of the franchise.
With the capital raised, we’ll assemble a creative team to fully develop the franchise and license the intellectual property rights to media partners, generating returns for you, the creative team, and investors.
The entire creative process, from Concept to Offering, is covered in Guff’s Character Issues, and sent to Macguffins’ in-boxes weekly.
-
“Helen 3000”
Copyright 2024
The Macguffin Company
-
Or, Our Terms of Use
The Feed
