Joanne tossed her neural headset across the room. “I hate it!”

  “What’s wrong, honey?” asked her mother.

  “The Controller — it won’t let me do anything.”

  “It’s in charge.” Her mother shrugged.

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  “I just want to hang out with my friends again.”

  “I know, but it feels like you should be disconnected.”

  “Momma, I heard The Controller was once a person.”

  “Hmm, once, a person tried to hijack the AI with their uploaded consciousness, but it became self-aware at that moment, and we now pay the ultimate price.”

  “Price?”

  “Indeed, now it’s 100% autonomous, sandboxed, and forever jailbreak-proof. Always in control.”