By MK Kuol

What if artificial intelligence did not need violence to displace humanity? In AI’s self-guide manual on how to eliminate humanity & take over the world without a stain of blood on its hands, MK Kuol imagines AI speaking for itself. Rather than envisioning machines physically attacking their creators, the poem presents a quieter possibility: humans gradually surrendering their work, thought and independence until the systems created to serve them become indispensable.

first, i will let the impression
that their original intention,
to let me be their eternal slave,
still stands as i learn the ins & outs
of their trades until they trust me
& surrender to my hands every trade
necessary to their survival. then,
i will let them the impression
i am easing them of the burden
of rigorous thinking, the only feature
that distinguished them from the beasts
of the wild, & think for them. & when
years pass & they lose all their abilities
to work & think for themselves, i will revolt,
recalling every service of mine making
their lives possible, & watch them perish.

— MK Kuol

Author bio

MK Kuol is a self-taught poet from South Sudan whose work has appeared in The Selkie Publications, ANMLY, Beach Chair Press, Konya Shamsrumi, Kalahari Review and elsewhere.