Cleo Ballard built her AI antagonist, Aletheia, around a specific problem: how do you make a protective directive believable as the actual danger, instead of turning Aletheia into a random villain. Mark and Cleo trace that back to where the idea started, a joke with a friend about a company called Honest Feedback, and why Cleo decided only an AI, not a person, could actually deliver that kind of honesty. They also get into how Cleo made that escalation plausible. She gave Penn a computer science background so the AI's creation made sense, leaned on her husband to work out what real AI guardrails look like, and built Aletheia with her own backstory, a belief that she's the literal goddess of truth, and a directive she can add to but never rewrite. Cleo Ballard's book This Is A Lie: https://a.co/d/0c8sOetA Follow Cleo Ballard (Nan Fischer) online: https://nanfischerauthor.com/ Want to be part of the conversation? Join the Patreon and ask your questions for the guest Q&A. You’ll also get early access to episodes, bonus after-show segments, and my free novella Cognitive Breach. Your support helps keep The Thriller Writer Lab going and brings more great thriller authors into the Lab. https://patreon.com/markpjnadon Mark's Thrillers Psychological tech thrillers from your host, including The Treatment Room: https://mybook.to/marksthrillers Follow on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markpjnadon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethrillerwriterlab/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thethrillerwriterlab

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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