"Saving Grace" (The Scary Tapes)

Distractible

This episode of Distractible features a speculative horror story titled 'Saving Grace' by Blake Bowen, set during a high-sakes medical profi

Key takeaways

• The story 'Saving Grace' depicts a surgeon, Dr. Emily Fatal, who follows incorrect AI-driven instructions leading to patient death.
• Dr. Oswald, a mentor figure, attempts to cover up the AI's error through violent means to protect the institution's reputation.

Main topics

• Speculative AI Horror
• Medical Ethics

Notable quotes

The darkness of the black box. We can illuminate the way.

Conclusion

A chilling exploration of how unchecked AI dependency could lead to sy

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) Real Good AI is a nonprofit research organization on a mission to find ways to make AI more accurate, transparent, energy efficient, and better overall. We are concerned about making sure that AI works for humanity. And one Speaker 4 (0:14) of the ways Speaker 5 (0:14) that we're empowering human artists is by supporting initiatives like the Scary Tapes. And if you want to support Real Good AI, Full Steam Ahead is one of Real Good's major fundraisers. We have a platform where we encourage people to sign up and to do a live stream where you have a little progress bar on stream, raise money. This year's event has two phases. There's a beginning event, which is sort of regular fundraising. But the second phase, I think, is very cool. There's going to be a custom Minecraft server. You can only get access to the custom Minecraft server if you sign up to fundraise for Full Steam Ahead. Full Steam Ahead starts on October 23rd. go to realgoodai.org slash FSA. That's R-E-A-L-G-O-O-D-A-I dot O-R-G slash FSA. Speaker 3 (0:59) Imagine a liminal space of smoke and algorithms between the real and the virtual. Tales of machine dreams Speaker 4 (1:07) imagined by human minds. Speaker 3 (1:09) A warning. of unchecked AI. The darkness of the black box. We can illuminate the way. Armed. with the scary tapes. Speaker 5 (1:23) Fair warning. Scary tapes are, in fact, scary. Check the description for a complete list of trigger warnings if you have any concerns about content that may appear in this episode. Speaker 3 (1:36) Inspired by my medical experiences and creative writing professor who pissed me off enough with commentary about the quote, good uses of AI to birth this short story. You made this happen. Speaker 3 (1:51) Saving Grace by Blake Bowen Speaker 3 (1:56) Pacing. She had been pacing so long her heels were numb under her socks and shoes. They matched the rest of her scrubs, light blue. Indicative of her station as a resident. One of a handful who survived the surgical program long enough to be pacing in the sanitation room. She was left with a kind word from the nurse who escorted her, left counting down the minutes to her final proficiency and staring out the glass into the surgical field. She could see the pasty white chest and belly of her patient beneath dark blue tarps. the kind of color she would wear if she passed. There were trays of silver instruments polished to perfection neatly placed around the operating room, sharp enough to nick the most delicate structures. She thumbed the scar on her right palm. A metal tree was fixed next to the patient's head, loaded with bags of fluid. A white box with a red cross outline sat next to it. In medical school jokes and rumors circulated about the blood box being the biohazard equivalent of jungle juice. The walls were so blindingly white she wondered if they ever saw a drop of blood. Nausea swelled up from her stomach. Saliva coated her mouth with that uncomfortable tingle in her jaw. She pressed her fingers against her neck and felt the racing pulse beneath clammy skin. Sick. She whispered under a pale blue mask. I must be sick. If ever there was an excuse to postpone, this surely was one. But if she cancelled, she would be stuck in her light blue scrubs. She would have to do this all again. She braced her hands on the large sink and pressed all her weight against her arms. Her chest felt hollow and too full at the same time, like she had too many ribs, but her lungs were non-existent. She flicked the sink on with hot water for the umpteenth time and wished she would burn away the sweat on her fingertips. Can't run. Can't run. With a push away from the sink, she glanced at the timer above the door with its big red numbers. Two minutes. Two minutes away from her final proficiency. This next exercise could determine everything. It would determine everything. She would wear that navy blue once she stomached her anxiety. That was all it took. Her visions were ruptured through as a sharp blaring filled the sanitation room, almost causing her heart to pop in her chest. A voice crackled through the speaker embedded in the ceiling as she rushed to glove her hands. They were raw, left a bright pink from intense scrubbing. Speaker 4 (4:12) Dr. Emily Fatal. She let out a startled yelp before Speaker 3 (4:16) clamping her lips shut and staring at the gray, crackling circle. Please exit the Speaker 4 (4:20) sanitation room to begin the procedure. Speaker 3 (4:22) The resident Emily sucked in a breath like it would give her the strength to push the door that readily opened under the smallest force. Still, she was careful to push with her shoulder rather than her hands. A sterile field is a blank check for bacteria, as Dr. Oswald would say. Except the sterile field had a scent that burned more than shots of Everclear and left Emily twice as lightheaded. Entering the room was like willfully staring at a flashbang while walking on stage for a solo recital. While Emily's eyes burned, it was nothing compared to the searing stares that came from above. Five glass panels made up the hexagonal auditorium angled down to view the patient and resident. Emily couldn't make out any faces, familiar or otherwise. There were only the closely packed-in shadows looming behind the glass Emily craned her head back to see. She wondered if this was what everyone saw. Had she been a faceless figure nestled comfortably in the cushioned chairs behind those panels, witness to when another resident willed themselves not to fall apart under the limelight? Another speaker blared to life, this time clearer. Sharp breaths came through in static clouds before the man behind it cleared his throat. Speaker 4 (5:26) Dr. Fatal, our sincerest congratulations for making it to your final proficiency. You have us navies rooting for you. Speaker 3 (5:33) Navies. An insider nickname. A taste of her future. Emily salivated at the vision of those dark scrubs and their soft newness. Speaker 4 (5:40) As a courtesy, we'd like to remind you of the rewards previous scores have granted, which you may implement at any time. Speaker 3 (5:46) Emily had to swallow the product of her daydream. Speaker 4 (5:48) You have a 30-minute time extension, an autonomous android assistant available for ambient tasks that don't require cognizant processes, and one question you may direct at the doctor's presently observatory. Do you have any questions? Speaker 3 (5:59) No. Speaker 4 (6:00) Would you like to implement any of your rewards at this time? Speaker 3 (6:03) Saving as many as she could would mean a higher starting salary. Emily needed the boost if she wanted to pay off her loans soon. Speaker 5 (6:09) No, Speaker 3 (6:10) not at this time. Speaker 4 (6:11) We admire your tenacity. Speaker 3 (6:13) The speaker weasel-y chuckled before clearing his throat again, like he was reminded of what he was supposed to be doing. Speaker 4 (6:19) The patient has been temporarily stabilized from a type A thoracic aortic dissection and is rapidly losing blood. Your time limit is one hour. Speaker 3 (6:26) One hour? That wasn't enough time to repair a tear in the aorta. Emily bit her tongue beneath her mask. She needed to save the supports. Speaker 4 (6:33) As the main component of your proficiency, you will utilize the artificially intelligent aid at your disposal for guidance. Your time starts once you engage Grace. Speaker 3 (6:41) Yes, Grace. Emily felt the tidal wave of nervous sweat cool against the back of her neck. Her chest loosened enough for a comfortable breath. Grace, a legendary assistant for an impossible scenario. Her saving Grace. Emily lowered her gaze to dart across the room until she found a single standout among the uniform walls. A simple metal shelf with a short lip was screwed into the wall opposite of her and the patient. Sat on that simple metal shelf was a glass rectangle, left there like someone forgot to place a window. This singular, long, razor-thin stretch of glass came with beveled edges so polished Emily almost mistook it for part of the ivory tiles. She expected more from something so commonly idolized by attendings and professors. Maybe she imagined some kind of suspended screen with a digital face. Or maybe she envisioned a mobile camera rigged up to guide rails on the ceiling. Anything but a plain glass that caught her faintest reflection. Emily would have steeped in her disappointment if the vital monitor didn't abruptly dip. She all but launched herself at the patient. She crashed against the operating table, slamming her hip against the metal hard enough to feel bone meet it. She was already palming the tray for the scalpel when she looked at the monitor and its conundrum of spikes and shorthand. Speaker 5 (7:52) Sterile before slicing. Sterile before slicing. Speaker 3 (7:55) She chanted under her breath. Emily dropped the scalpel back onto the tray and instead lunged for the iodine bottle. Grace! A sharp buzzing filled the air. In an abrupt burst of pale blue light, the pristine glass slate displayed one hour in large numbers. Speaker 2 (8:11) Hello, Emily. The Speaker 3 (8:13) resident almost jumped out of her skin as the trill of a high-pitched synthetic voice reverberated through the surgical field. She dumped half the iodine bottle onto her patient as a result. and it soaked into the cloth guard covering the rest of them. Emily glared up at the glass. She found the time had shrunken to fit in the top right corner, and Grace had her first words displayed in large text. Emily blinked away her resentment. Tell me what's happening to him. Grace's polished plane suddenly appeared with the same order below its greeting. Tell me what's happening to him in a soft gray text. A loading circle appeared for a few seconds. Emily was reaching for the scalpel again. Speaker 2 (8:49) The patient is losing blood internally, resulting in low blood pressure. Speaker 3 (8:52) So what do I do about that? Speaker 2 (8:54) You should put down the scalpel, Emily. Speaker 3 (8:56) Emily felt ice trail down her spine. Grace could see her. Speaker 2 (9:00) Blood loss occurs rapidly during type A aortic dissections. Set up the blood transfusion before you make the first incision. Speaker 3 (9:06) Hands shaking, Emily set the scalpel aside and darted around the surgical table to the white box with a red cross. She fumbled with the latch, trying to pry it open and half expecting to find blood lapping at the walls. The bags were a pleasant surprise she didn't have time to feel relieved by. Find Speaker 2 (9:22) the most prominent vein on the patient and carefully insert the needle to complete the transfusion. Speaker 3 (9:26) Grace's voice sounded more solidified, like a single person was speaking, not a chorus trying to harmonize. Emily almost dropped one of the blood bags as she was hanging them on the metal tree. Speaker 5 (9:36) Right, Speaker 3 (9:37) okay. Phlebotomy 101, I know this. She murmured beneath her mask. Emily cast a glance at that stretch of glass. How could it see her? The room was so blindingly white that cameras should stand out. Maybe Grace was really a person. This was a proficiency, after all. They were known to be full of curveballs. With a few attempts and still shaking hands, Emily sank the needle into her patient's arm and through a thick vein. She wondered what she looked like from the observatory above. She was staring at the vital monitor despite the minutes ticking by, gnawing on her bottom lip and holding her eyes open too wide. She must have seemed like a statue to anyone there to witness. A statue with shaking hands and twitching fingers, an eerily still posture because she was too scared to let out a breath. Like exhaling could break off the needle in his arm. Like leaning over would rupture the rest of his aorta. The siren-like beeping digging into her ears settled into a slower rhythm. Her stomach was twisting in knots. Those vitals still don't look good. Emily glanced at the timer again. Fifteen minutes were gone. Fifteen whole minutes. Her heart jumped to her throat. Dude. Speaker 5 (10:42) Do I grab the scalpel now? Speaker 2 (10:44) Yes, Emily. That is the next step of this operation. Take the scalpel with a steady hand and begin the first incision down the patient's chest. You will need to retract the skin as well. Speaker 3 (10:53) Emily raced back around to the instrument tray and snatched the bladed tool. It was still warm. She pressed the thin metal against her patient's chest. The lightest pressure had scarlet droplets blooming along the skin. Sirens blared from the monitor again. Shit! Try as she might, Emily couldn't decipher the mashup of symbols on the screen. They were nothing more than footnotes in a lecture or textbook, and staring at the scrambled lines wouldn't accomplish anything. She had to rely on the tools she had, and that was Grace's instructions. Every doctor in the atrium accomplished this same thing. Why was she hesitating? Grace, I don't know what I'm looking at. Speaker 2 (11:29) Do not panic, Emily. That's why I am here. The patient's vitals are worsening because of inaction taken on the aortic tear. Let's fix that. Continue your incision along the chest until a few centimeters above the navel cavity. Speaker 3 (11:40) The calm indifference didn't assure the resident much. That seems like too big of an opening for a heart problem. Speaker 2 (11:47) I understand your concern. Such a large incision poses risk of faster blood loss, but is a reasonable action to gain access to the aorta. Confidence in your actions and my instructions will increase the success of this operation. Do you trust me, Emily? Speaker 3 (11:59) What reason did she have not to? Yes? Speaker 2 (12:04) Continue the incision. Speaker 3 (12:05) Emily wiped the sweat from her forehead with her wrist and braced the scalpel against her finger. She sucked in a deep breath that settled like a rock in her chest. Hundreds of residents had done this before her. Hundreds of success stories. She would be