In a discreet three-story luxury home with modern brick accents and a slate gray roof in an exclusive gated community on the outskirts of Austin, a family was currently gathered in front of their home theater setup, watching the live stream of the Militech Technology Spring Global Product Launch projected onto the massive screen.
Seeing Nick's confident smile on stage, a dignified and still graceful woman in her late forties took a quiet sip of her coffee and chuckled softly, "This young man is quite good. Extremely impressive, actually."
"Mom, what do you mean 'quite good'? The media is calling Nick a once-in-a-generation tech prodigy on par with Gates and Jobs," a seventeen-year-old boy sitting nearby interjected, sounding slightly defensive of his idol.
The woman didn't smile, remaining silent for a brief moment before turning her head toward the father and daughter, who were both watching the high-definition broadcast with immense interest.
"He is far too impressive. Frankly, that makes him not quite suitable."
"Mom, isn't being successful a good thing? Why wouldn't he be suitable?" Vivian said, her eyes intently glued to the projection screen, clearly displeased by her mother's critical assessment.
"An extraordinary man is certainly fine in theory, but a man who is too extraordinary presents a very difficult reality, especially for the woman beside him," the woman, Vivian 's mother, noted as she turned her gaze back to Nick's image on the screen.
"A man with that level of gravity is bound to attract a constant orbit of other women. Competing for attention in that kind of environment will be a very exhausting endeavor. Furthermore, visionaries like him inevitably dump one hundred percent of their energy and focus directly into their corporate empires, making it incredibly easy to neglect their personal lives. Compared to their global careers, the women in their lives often end up treated as mere accessories.
Our family's financial circumstances are excellent. Every ounce of hard work your father and I put in over our lifetimes was explicitly to ensure that you and your brother would have a secure, comfortable life. Because of that, I do not expect or require you to hunt down an exceptionally famous or powerful partner. Relatively speaking, finding a partner who genuinely prioritizes you and possesses the capacity to balance a healthy family life will be infinitely more suitable for your happiness."
Seeing that Vivian still looked ready to argue the point, her mother gently shook her head with a soft expression. "Your personality has been an exact mirror of mine since you were a child—you are fiercely independent, opinionated, and strong-willed. Didn't you choose to go to college in the UK precisely because you hoped to carve out your own significant professional achievements in the future?
If you step into his orbit, you will inevitably become a corporate appendage, forever overshadowed by his global brilliance. Are you truly willing to compromise your own intellect like that, to live a secondary life merely as a supportive wife and homemaker? I will never oppose your freedom to love whoever you choose, nor will I step in to micromanage your relationships, but I deeply hope you analyze the reality clearly when making these kinds of life choices so you don't lose your identity in the process."
Vivian had originally wanted to fire back with a few defensive arguments, but the words caught directly in her throat. She went quiet, staring back at the glowing projection screen, completely lost in her own thoughts.
Vivian's mother smiled faintly at the silence, then nudged her husband who was sitting on the other side of their daughter. "Aren't you going to offer any input here?"
Hanmaru glanced over at his daughter, his eyes quickly tracking back to the television broadcast. "Look, you've already articulated everything that needed to be said alongside everything that probably didn't, so I think I'll pass on the lecture. As far as I'm concerned, as long as she's fully willing and she genuinely likes the kid, she has my absolute support.
Though, speaking from a purely professional standpoint, I actually quite enjoy this little brat's style. During our last market dispute, my firm took a rather substantial hit directly at his hands. Now the kid is setting his sights on my precious daughter—how can there be such a cheap exchange in this business world? If Nick wants a path to marry my daughter, he's going to have to negotiate his way past me first."
"Dad!" Vivian snapped out of her trance, quickly tugging on Hanmaru's arm in an embarrassed, playful protest.
At that exact moment, her seventeen-year-old brother poked his head over the back of the sofa, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "Honestly, if Nick actually became my brother-in-law, that would be an absolute win for my social life."
"Shut up!" Vivian snapped, her face flushing with a mix of anger and embarrassment as she hurled a decorative throw pillow straight at his head.
"Alright, alright, truce on the relationship talk. Let's focus on the presentation. I'm genuinely curious to see what other market-disrupting bombshells this kid is about to drop tonight."
Back on the massive event stage, Nick clicked his presentation remote to swap the slide, his voice echoing cleanly through the auditorium. "A beautiful industrial exterior must be seamlessly matched with a powerful processing interior to remain consistent and truly premium."
"To better serve modern households, our software division has directly integrated the core contextual models of our Mobile Voice Assistant into the residential system, making the AI significantly more intuitive for this release. What this means in practice is that the moment our users step across their threshold, they can completely break free from the hardware constraints of wearing an earpiece or checking their phones, transitioning smoothly to converse directly with our smart home terminal. But is a simple hands-free microphone upgrade really enough?"
Nick shook his head firmly, a charismatic smile playing on his face. "If we stopped there, it would honestly represent an incredibly insincere generation-over-generation update. Tonight, allow me the privilege of introducing the newest member about to enter your household.
Last autumn, during a late-night talk show appearance, I demonstrated a live, unscripted conversation between myself and our advanced proprietary Artificial Intelligence assistant, Kacy. That broadcast triggered a massive viral reaction across global media markets the next morning; a segment of tech critics wrote it off as a pre-programmed stunt, while millions of everyday consumers eagerly flooded our inbox asking when the software would see an official commercial release.
Tonight, that software officially arrives.
For generations, countless homeowners have dreamed of employing a traditional, high-end estate manager or butler capable of delivering an uncompromised tier of household organization and service for their families. However, the exorbitant, elitist cost of that luxury deters the vast majority of society, leaving it relegated entirely to a fantasy or an aspiration for the wealthy.
Tonight, our engineering team is democratizing that dream."
Nick leveled his remote control at the screen, and a stunning, hyper-realistic digital avatar materialized on the massive display behind him. The virtual entity was styled in elegant, professional business attire, featuring a highly refined aesthetic, an athletic posture, and an incredibly poised demeanor.
"Consumers frequently provide feedback noting that our existing smart voice assistant platforms lack a tangible, physical identity. Tonight, the visual layer has officially arrived. Go ahead, say hello to our global audience."
As Nick stepped back from the center mark, the digital avatar on the massive LED screen immediately shifted its weight smoothly, offering a warm, incredibly humanlike smile as she began to speak.
"Hello everyone. I am the advanced Artificial Intelligence butler developed by the engineering teams at Militech Technology. It is an absolute privilege to connect with you all tonight. Our ultimate corporate mission is to ensure that through our adaptive household management, every family can experience an uncompromised, high-tech domestic lifestyle, while simultaneously utilizing our technology to help people rediscover the core warmth of a connected home."
Although the introductory script was concise, the fluid, organic facial expressions and realistic micro-expressions displayed by the avatar left the audience questioning whether they were watching a live-rendered digital model or pre-recorded footage of a professional actress.
"I am completely aware that right now, every tech journalist in this room is wondering if they are simply watching a highly polished, pre-rendered video file of a real human being," Nick said, stepping back into the spotlight. "I want to state officially for the record that this video feed was generated entirely and autonomously in real time by our core rendering pipeline, without a single shred of manual human intervention. As for the default aesthetic of the character model, that was simply a concept file compiled by our design team.
For this retail release, we have handed absolute customization permissions directly over to our users. You possess the creative freedom to construct your ideal household manager according to your exact visual and aesthetic preferences. For instance, you can configure the interface to look like this, or like this, or even like this..."
As Nick went through the setup options, an array of vastly distinct character avatars flashed across the high-contrast display. The screen cycled through elegant professionals, grandfatherly figures, energetic animated characters, sharp-dressed young men, stylized comic aesthetics, and more. With each rapid shift in the avatar's appearance, another wave of excitement and cheers rippled through the tech fans in the audience.
"The backend engine contains thousands of these baseline profiles, and I won't take up your evening attempting to demonstrate every permutation, leaving the creative discovery entirely to your imagination when you unbox the device. Our fundamental goal is for this interface to step into your life and integrate into your daily routine with absolute fluid harmony. We want our consumers to embrace this software, allowing it to evolve into a genuine member of the family.
What I must emphasize from an engineering standpoint is that this is not merely a static virtual doll; we have endowed the underlying engine with a vast library of kinetic body movements, contextual gestures, and reactive facial expressions. The avatar will present completely distinct behaviors and emotional inflections depending on the room's environment, the specific family member interacting with it, and the contextual tone of the conversation itself.
Its operational capabilities are exceptionally robust. Beyond executing every automated task originally managed by our first-generation smart home terminal, we have integrated a massive suite of localized productivity and household management features, all of which are waiting for you to explore the second the hardware arrives at your door."
______________________________
Vivian is west asian, meaning half japanese, half british.