Dayton, OH - Two hundred twelve lives and tens of thousands of man-hours were lost Saturday after an artificial intelligence experiment went horribly wrong. Full details have not been released yet by authorities, but reports by witnesses tell accounts of violence and bloodshed that security guards and police were unable to stop.
"It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen," according to James Davis, senior engineer on another project at the facility. "They had been testing a new bomb-defusing robot at the Northwest Lab all this week. They were nearly two months behind schedule. The programmers asked for more time, but the project manager felt the code was complete enough. He was wrong."
The first twelve test cases completed successfully, but the next caused a condition known as a buffer-overflow, overwriting the machines instructions with random garbage.
All seven members of the development team perished in the accident, as did over two hundred other researchers present at the facility that day.
"The facility alarms sounded as soon as the robot broke through the lab door," said Bill Roiley, a security supervisor at the research labs. "We tried to disable the robot, but were unsuccessful. It's built to withstand bomb blasts, and it's equipped with an array of blades, projectiles and explosive charges. I lost some of my best men to that machine, and all we achieved was a few dents in its panels."
The robot's rampage lasted four hours as it blasted or sawed through walls and doors, brutally killing any researcher in its path, and the brutality ended only as the robots battery began to fail.
"We really lucked out," said Roiley. "From what I understand, this thing was to be powered by a small nuclear pile rated for 30 years of continuous service, but budgetary cuts forced the use of lead-acid auto batteries for the testing phase. Had this thing had its intended battery, I fear what would have happened as the robot left the facility and ventured into the surrounding community."
Only those researchers and other staff who managed to hide from the robot's thermal imaging sensors were able to avoid a grisly fate as the robot took its turns through the facility. Police officials promise to release more details as the victims' families are notified.
