Duke and Jenkins sat in the meeting expectantly. The company was in some sort of trouble, and so an all-hands meeting was called. Duke and Jenkins were secretly (and illegally) betting on the company to fail. The pair thought meetings were exactly what would push the company over the cliff because meetings slowed the process of finding solutions.
The company’s president started the meeting, but was almost immediately interrupted by Macklin. “Before we begin, I think we should acknowledge the elephant in the room, an elephant metaphorically brought from the jungles of Asia…”
Macklin continued his speech to the delight of Duke and Jenkins, who had hired Macklin. In their minds, Macklin was a bad actor who did the pair’s bidding and got massive results. Macklin was actually a poor actor, known for getting kicked out of community theater productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Several days before the meeting, Duke and Jenkins approached Macklin and told him the whole company’s fate rested on his motivational speeches. Macklin was clueless about the wrongdoing and instead thought he was an actor in an elaborate corporate drama. The job paid. The job paid well, so Macklin did not question the role.
Macklin tried out a couple of motivational speeches he came up with, and they were terrible. Duke stepped in to find speeches for Macklin to recite.
Macklin’s first speech about the elephant continued in the meeting. “It’s known how you eat an elephant—one bite at a time, but the question is, where do you start?”
“Where did you find the speeches?” Jenkins asked Duke.
“I asked AI,” Duke said with a smile.
“Macklin memorized them well,” Jenkins whispered.
“He called them monologues.”
Macklin finally concluded the speech with, “Let’s go tackle that elephant.”
Jenkins was ready to applaud Macklin’s speech, but the CEO beat him to it. “That was a wonderful start, Macklin. Now we all know the problems we are facing. I wonder if we could start on solutions. Macklin, how do you view this problem?”
Macklin froze and looked over at Duke and Jenkins. Duke held up the four fingers, and Macklin exhaled.
Macklin began, “Members of this meeting, it is the best of times. It is the worst of times.”
Everyone in the room hung onto Macklin’s every word. Jenkins had to keep himself from laughing. He whispered to Duke. “How many of these speeches did he prepare?”
“Five.”
Jenkins shook his head. “I wish they were better written.”
“We have yet to find an AI agent who does as much for us as Macklin.”