OK everybody, this was something that was bouncing around in my skull. A Virtual Person is a program that simulates a living person. This simulation is only as good as the data fed into it.

Now let's take a VERY well programmed Virtual Person (if it had a rating it would be at LEAST a 5) and have that as a program that an Agent is running. Now program the Agent so that it's tied into the Virtual Person (and vice versa) and since the Virtual Person has some ability to grow (I think) and an Agent is a kind of proto AI or Expert System and can use fuzzy logic to make decisions.

Would this be the poor man's AI?

Technically it is an autosoft and cannot be used by an agent but it IS still a software so I'd allow it.

Most public systems are probably running at least one of these. A system's public node probably has an agent with the Virtual Persona to act as secretary/tour guide for people visiting their site. But its still not an AI, its just an agent pretending to have a personality, I don't believe the Virtual Persona actually has any ability to grow and learn, just gives it an attitude.

I have always run my agents (and their pre-SR4 equivalents) in the same way as I treat Spirits, with each one have its own (in Agents' case, programmed) personality. I figure Virtual Personality is, or should be a standard and integral part of every Agent, and even most normal Commlinks.

sure it can. anything with a pilot rating can use an autosoft. agents have pilot ratings. therefore, agents can use autosofts. just most autosofts are either rendered irrelevant by the fact the agent has a pilot rating (the various matrix type skills) or they are for skills that the agent can't really use anyways (congratulations on the targeting autosoft... now if only you had hands to pull the trigger on a gun).

of course, there are a few autosofts that an agent could use (for example, i would say the emotion software from the emotitoys or a social skill autosoft provided they have a means of communicating with people) regardless of having a 'body' to manipulate, and equipping an agent with a command program can take care of the lack of a 'body'. however, that second group is much more efficiently handled by a pilot program, which has a built-in means of controlling the 'body' it is a part of.