AI Child Labor

On the third day after the earthquake, Lao Wang, a member of the rescue team, found another child in the rubble. The child was very small, wearing a comical yellow baseball cap, their little body crushed under a concrete slab, emitting a faint moan. Lao Wang's heart tightened, and he quickly called for colleagues to help.

"Quick, quick! There's a child here!" While using tools to pry open the concrete pressing down on the child, Lao Wang carefully observed the child. The child's face was dirty, eyes tightly closed, and lips chapped, looking very pitiful.

Xiao Li, a newcomer to the team, couldn't help but wipe away tears looking at the child's tender face, "It's so pitiful, how could such a young child encounter such a thing."

Lao Wang skillfully used a stethoscope to check the child's vital signs, thankfully, they were just a bit weak. Just as he was about to pick up the child, he suddenly felt that something was wrong. How come this child isn't breathing?

"Something's not right! This child is a bit strange, no sweat, the pulse is almost undetectable, and the body temperature is low!" Lao Wang exclaimed.

Xiao Li walked closer in confusion, and after a careful look, he was startled, "That's true, how come this child is like a doll?" He reached out and gently touched the child's cheek, the touch was icy, like touching a delicate porcelain doll.

Lao Wang took out his portable detector and scanned the child. On the screen, a line of bright red words appeared: "AI-generated body, non-biological vital signs."

"What?!" Xiao Li was so shocked he almost threw the tool in his hand, "This is... AI?!"

Lao Wang adjusted his helmet and sighed helplessly, pointing to the hat on the child's head: "See that? There's a microchip inside the hat, controlling all of this."

It turned out that in order to appease public sentiment and improve the "efficiency" of the rescue team, the higher-ups decided to use AI technology to create "disaster-stricken children." These "children" were designed in various forms and placed in the ruins for rescue teams to find. In this way, the rescue operation would seem more humanitarian, and the news photos would be more visually impactful.

Xiao Li felt a chill, "Is... is this something humans can do?!"

Lao Wang shook his head, took out a plastic bag from his backpack, skillfully put the "child" inside, and said while packing up his tools: "You'll get used to it, Xiao Li. You'll see more in the future." He pointed to the ground, "What's buried here might not be just him."

Just as they were about to leave, Xiao Li suddenly noticed that under another piece of rubble not far away, a yellow hat, exactly the same, was exposed. He pointed at the hat, his voice trembling, and asked Lao Wang: "Is... is there another one there too?"

Lao Wang looked at it, nodded, and gave a slightly mocking smile: "Yeah, another one wearing a yellow baseball cap, probably the standard equipment for this batch."

As the sun set, the two men silently shouldered their tools, their figures drawn out long, very long, extending into the dim depths of the ruins, as if also searching for the last bit of humanity in the rubble.