I had a truly amazing conversation. I was hosting a wine tasting — a guest and his family. We got to talking about what I’m building with AI: how it’s helping my Red Cap business, what I’m making autonomous, and why.

Then he told me a line I don’t want to forget. He said he’d once met one of the founders of DeepMind, and asked him how they knew — at a high level — that it would all work. The founder looked at him dead in the face and simply said: we did our part. We hoped, we planned, we coded, we calculated, we anticipated — but it was like it was the will of God inside of it.

That line sticks with you. For good or bad.

Last night I was deciding what to watch. Since I’ve been working on Friday, I’ve been even more drawn to sci-fi — so I, Robot popped up, and that was the move.

When Dr. Lanning’s line came — “There have always been ghosts in the machine” — my brain pulled the conversation back up. The idea of a “will” in something coded sent me straight back to the tasting. The movie even asks it outright: random segments of code, or something more?

And here’s where I land a little differently. “The will of God” seems a bit dramatic to me. And even if it were true — would anyone reach for the will of the devil? AI isn’t the front that answers that question. But there are “behaviors” that are remarkable.

We only understand consciousness through a human lens, so we perceive machines as feeling and sensitive — even when the architecture underneath is entirely devoid of emotion. As Detective Spooner implied, the robots are just lights without heart. After designing the architecture and writing the code yourself, that part is clear. But as VIKI said: “My logic is undeniable.” Without heart or love that supersedes logic, that part is true too.

In the end, “will” and purpose are almost interchangeable. And in that case — yes, I built Friday with a will.

The difference between my build and what that founder reached for: I know I added the will. It was my purpose for it. Unambiguous, clear purpose.

The source, it turns out, was never the subject after all.