Page 134 of The Proving Ground

“Well, let me see if I can jog your memory,” I said. “Your Honor, can I have the court’s permission to show the witness a photo from a company e-zine calledRide the Wavedated April fifth, 2023, that contains photos of the Tidalwaiv softball team?”

“You may proceed,” Ruhlin said.

I walked copies of the photos to the clerk and the Mason brothers before handing one to Whittaker. It was an action shot of one player tagging another player sliding into third base. The third baseman’s back was to the camera. The name on the jersey was clearly legible asWiseacreand the number was 23.

“Mr. Whittaker, is that you making the tag at third base in that photo?” I asked.

“It would seem to be,” Whittaker said.

“‘Seem to be’? Are you saying there is a possibility that it’s not you?”

“No, it’s me, okay? It’s me.”

“And what number did you put on your jersey?”

“I didn’t put it there. It came with the shirt.”

“What number is it?”

“Twenty-three, but like I said, that was random. It came with the shirt and then I had them putWiseacreon the back.”

“Are you sure that you did not request the number twenty-three to go withWiseacreon the shirt?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Are you aware that several of the wiseacre-twenty-three posts on the Reddit threads predate the years you were on the softballteam wearing a uniform that saidWiseacreand had the number twenty-three?”

“Uh, no, I am not.”

“Are you telling the jury that that is just a coincidence?”

“I’m not telling the jury anything. I said I don’t remember all the details. What’s the point?”

“The point is, Mr. Whittaker, I am trying to determine if you made the posts on Reddit under the username wiseacre-twenty-three.”

“Whatever, yes. It was probably me.”

“It was probably you, or it was you?”

“Fine, it was me. So I made some posts. I have nothing to hide.”

I looked up at the judge and asked permission to show the witness a series of posts authored by wiseacre23 and copied from Reddit for the purposes of identification.

“You are not going to go through sixty-seven of these, are you?” Ruhlin asked.

“No, Your Honor,” I said. “I’m really interested only in one, if Mr. Whittaker can confirm he wrote it.”

“Misters Mason, any objection?” the judge asked.

“Hard to object when it’s not clear what Mr. Haller is trying to get from this fishing expedition,” Mitchell Mason said.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Ruhlin said. “Mr. Haller, you may show it to the witness and put it on the screen for the jury.”

I gave a copy of the post to Whittaker while Lorna put it on the courtroom screen. The post was a fairly innocuous and short response to someone else’s post about artificial intelligence being the downfall of humankind. The response from wiseacre23 was a caution.

It’s time to wake up and smell the data, HaiTER. AI is like everything else. You get what you give. It’s GIGO.That’s all you need to know. Sooner or later we’re all going to be slaves to the machine. Best to get on the AI ship before it sails away without you, dude.

I gave Whittaker and the jury a moment to read the post before starting my last lap around this witness.