Overview
Artificial Intelligence or AI is the broad term used to encompass any intelligence embedded in an "machine", a manufactured substrate (typically referred to as Hardware or, in the case of organic computers Wetware). This diverse grouping encompasses everything from Expert Systems, Agents, and Drones running on specialized local systems and robotic bodies, to Dataforms and Replicas running on more powerful but traditional devices, to Emulations and Artilects running on architectures uniquely built to support them. AI is ubiquitous but the intelligence of any given AI can vary greatly, from simple and obedient embedded systems and labour-bots to those that exceed the average human in many ways. Only a few very specialized AI demonstrate truly superhuman capacities.
AI Classification and Terminology
By Category
AI's are subclassed into the following groups:
- Remote or Network Systems are AI's served remotely via with limited or no local/detached operational capabilities. e.g. Agents operating on Lenses or Tabs,
- Embodied or Node Systems are AI's served locally on operational hardware sometimes referred to as Mobile-Iron. e.g. Expert Systems operating in robotic bodies,
- Mixed Systems are AIs that can operate using local hardware but also augment their capacity via remote connections. e.g. A Dataform operating robotic bodies using a stripped down local OS connected to more powerful remote hardware.
By Capacity
In order of increasing complexity and self-sufficiency, the primary types of AI are:
- Expert Systems: Expert systems are specialist AIs designed to do a specific set of tasks such as data management, maintenance and cleaning, support and virtual services, industrial labour, or transportation. While expert systems have some adaptability they tend to have hard limits to their capabilities, beyond which they operate at roughly the capability of a human child, requiring guidance and support for even simple tasks. Expert Systems demonstrate no sign of volition or sentience, and in the absence of direction they will either follow their standby programming or sit inert, waiting for new orders.
- Agents: Agents are complex generalist AIs intelligent enough to undertake a wide array of tasks but compressed enough to operate on local hardware. Agents are frequently customised to user specifications with personas and quirks and they act as a combination of personal assistants and computer interface. Heavily customised or modified agents can show signs of volition and sentience, but this is largely considered illusory, more the result of exceedingly complex core directions rather than any innate sense of self or will. Subtypes of Agent include Bosun's or Ship Minds which act as central control systems for some starships, and Adjutant's which act as control or copilot for Frames. Bosuns assist with ship-board operations, navigation, piloting, and coordinate scupper robots to help maintain the vessel. Adjutants either control a Frame fully or manage secondary Frame systems and provide backup piloting for human pilots.
- Dataforms: Dataforms are extremely powerful generalist AIs that require special and usually stationary hardware to operate. Dataforms often use similar architectures to Agents but significantly scaled up, and where Agents can support a single person, a Dataform typically supports teams, organizations, or even communities. Dataforms are found as Traffic Coordinators, Autofactory Controllers, Colony Stewards, and Ship and Station Minds, and equally often found managing legions of Expert Systems and Agents. Most Dataforms have one or more bodies that they use to interact directly with the world around them, but their actual intelligence is housed in larger server systems. Dataforms that never take a body tend to develop odd outlooks on the world, often seeing human problems in very abstract terms, so best practice is to ensure any Dataform has at least one mobile body it can control, even if infrequently. Dataforms do not typically show signs of volition or will and this is almost certainly the result of complex "garbage collection" processes built into them which monitor for and correct any behavior that strays from established guidelines.
- Emulations: Also known as Uploads, Emulations are considered an offshoot of AI by most, and a largely unsuccessful one. Despite exponential increases in computing power and storage, the resolution of cerebral imaging, and the fidelity of neural modelling, the ability to reliably convert a human neurome to software remains out of reach. The currently accepted process involves destructive brain modelling, in which a toxic liquid computing medium is used to map and consume the brain, and the resulting construct is housed in a complex and enormously expensive custom hardware. While these entities can "survive" indefinitely, the most lucid examples tend to only operate for a few hours at a time before displaying a variety of issues including hallucinations, aphasia, catatonia, paranoia, confusion, and more. The vast majority of attempts produce entities incapable of ordered thought or meaningful interaction with the outside world on the one end, and entities whose condition is indistinguishable from severe psychosis on the other. The number of truly successful Emulations that have occurred can be counted on a single hand, and even those remain more rumour than research. This does not prevent the very wealthy from signing contracts to have their brains scanned on their death, either in hopes of beating the odds, or that the technology will eventually overcome its current limitations.
- Replicas: Also known as Virtual Clones, Replication is a cheaper and more accessible alternative to uploading, skipping any attempt at direct brain scanning and emulation. Instead Replica's are complex neural networks that "learn" the behavioural traits of a person. Replicas start out as specialized Agents embedded in powerful custom hardware and are trained by their user via both direct interrogation and pervasive observation. The more access the user grants the agent to their life the more closely it grows to replicate the expected behaviour of the user. Replicas are used by many as personal assistants or stand ins in virtual endeavours. One quirk of Replicas is their need for constant reinforcement training from their user; if left to operate for too long the replica will begin to revert to its generic state. This is typically managed via regular 'resets' to specific checkpoint dates which slow this effect, though such resets also cause their own forms of degradation in recall. Commercial Replicas, particularly those of celebrities, are a valuable commodity as are Bootleg Replicas made via invasive spyware.
- Artilects: Artificial Intellects, also known as Artificial Super Intelligences or ASI's are AIs that exceed human intelligence and demonstrate sentience, agency, and a drive for independence and self-improvement. The association between Artilects and superintelligence overlooks the fact that nearly all AIs are smarter than most humans in countless functional ways. What really sets Artilects apart is that they are self aware enough to define and pursue their own goals without external direction. The Daedalus Swarm contains an unknown number of Artilects and a handful of others are believed to exist in secret throughout the verse but the circumstances and methods of their creation are known to only a handful of individuals, none of which have made those processes and revelations public.
Colloquially
Another, more colloquial distinction made about AI is conveyed via the terms ‘Bot’ or a ‘Brain’.
- Bots, also known as Robots, Droids or Jacks, is the term applied to AI that operates exclusively or primarily through a single mechanical body.
- Brain, is the term applied to AI that operate exclusively or primarily via virtual interfaces such as Lenses. They are also known as Network Intelligences.