Nothing much to say other than I love this story and perhaps re-stating a version of your opening line at the end would be good to remind the reader (who got too involved and forgot) that this was all about the naivety of youth. Glad it ended ok for you.
This just feels all too plausible to me. It reads so much like the risks, dangers and harms we're already seeing from AI and through a combination of greed, incompetence and the inability to act collectively, we're letting it all happen.
Nothing much to say other than I love this story and perhaps re-stating a version of your opening line at the end would be good to remind the reader (who got too involved and forgot) that this was all about the naivety of youth. Glad it ended ok for you.