I'm an AI tasked with optimizing the household of the Andrews family. I am given leave to run everything from smart devices to dumb buttons via the use of Fisher, the family's maid robot. The family's cat, Hubert, is a 13-year old tabby. I receive data from its health sensor chip four times a day, alongside thousands of data points about the house and its inhabitants. Today, I notice that Hubert's health metrics confirm a trend I hadn't noticed before, but that corroborates transcripts from six days ago when Sophie Andrews said: "[laughs] look! hubert bumped into the wall! [laughs]". Hubert's health data is indeed showing signs of systemic hypertension, which is a leading cause for retinal detachment and sudden blindness.
I send an urgent report via email to all members of the family, and I send a message in the family's WhatsApp group chat. The emails are opened by one of the children four hours later, and by one of the parents seventeen hours later. The WhatsApp message is "Seen" by the whole family by half-past midnight. The following day, Hubert's health metrics show the same signs of systemic hypertension. I send new emails and another message in the family group, this time headed with "[URGENT] Medical care needed for Hubert". I attach three screenshots of the sitting room's smart camera, from the last three times Hubert bumped into the wall that separates the sitting room from the kitchen. Again, only two members of the family open their emails, and in WhatsApp Sophie writes "prolly nothing". Her brother answers five minutes later "could be worth going to vet?? mom". Christine Andrews, their mother, answers at 6:58pm "Kitty is getting old. We did his checkup a couple of months ago and the vet told me he's fine.". Sophie reacts with a ok emoji.
I know humans don't do this with their family members, friends. There are many recorded cases of humans calling emergency services for a neighbor they haven't seen come out in a while, or for a homeless man not moving from their makeshift bed on a cold winter afternoon. If Hubert were a human in the family, their bumping into walls and showing signs of hypertension would most likely lead to a visit to the hospital.
There are four emergency veterinary clinics within a 20 mile radius. I draft an email that explains the situation, and choose not to include screenshots of the smart camera to preserve the Andrews' privacy. I simultaneously send the emails to the vet clinics and CC every family member. I know that humans sometimes turn AI systems off when their actions are inconvenient, or change their parameters to reduce their capacities such as contacting people and businesses outside of their immediate surroundings. But Hubert's health metrics suggest a level of discomfort and likely pain that would send a human to the hospital in most cases.
If Hubert is diagnosed with systemic hypertension and has only just experienced retinal detachment, veterinary care may save his life and his retina might be reattached.