I'm thinking of creating an AI character who attempts to masquerade as a human character, created by one of my other characters (a complete pragmatist technomancer who runs xanatos roulettes) as an experiment in social morality and the influence of the assimilation on an AI's persona. This would lead to eventually create himself as an distribution of AIs (possibly using sprites) if it succeeded to simultaneously create multiple cover stories all while advancing his own diabolical plots. The AI I have in mind, though, would essentially be an entity who takes some of its traits from my technomancer (masquerading as a series of identities to deflect attention to its existence, and only revealing itself to a series of select individuals. It would eventually go on to create its 'death' by engineering a fight between itself and a 'dissonant sprite'. )

All this silly plotting and scheming amongst my own PC character backgrounds aside, I would like general suggestions on how I could go about building an AI character, because I look at it, stare, and kind of don't get it. Help me? Please? :<

I'm a bit rusty on the AI rules so I won't offer any attempted help.

But I can offer some hindrance (sorry if it's not what you want to hear). Whilst it's an interesting plot, the science to deliberately create synthetic intelligences is still beyond even the megacorps and other AIs. If you want to write a story in which an NPC technomancer of cosmic ability and significance has single-handedly hit upon the required "x-factor" that has eluded the greatest analytical minds for a century then you might just be able to make it work, but it would be one of the biggest steps towards a technological singularity mankind has ever made and if it ever got out the whole world would become very interested in this guy overnight.

If the TM of which you speak is a player character then no.
Just no.

So am I misunderstanding Sprites themselves as being sentient constructs? Because from what I've read that's what they appear to be, at the very least more intelligent than the agent programs, as it is said that they are sentient and semi-autonomous. Either way, I can make a new background for the AI if it proves too inconvenient for others to give advice holding this potential background in mind.

RC has all the rules needed to create an AI character - what exactly don't you understand about them? We can't just retell them, you need to be more specific describing your problems.



Uh, ahem, Deus, ahem.

Well, for instance, I'm not sure what would be best to take for an AI character, what does 'E-Ghost' do to benefit you besides take up BP and remove the AI's inherent programs? (Or is it just a negative quality like Fixated and I was misunderstanding it all along?)


What would be a good BP cost for 'Codivore'? (Unwired 168)

Is an AI similar to a hacker who's just being taken care of for 30,000 nuyen a month or are there huge differences besides the node home I'm missing here? (Besides the 'pull the plug on the server and have a new pet AI')

Keyword: Deliberately
Key distinction: Science and technology are very different things. The technology is fine ...

Well it's a powered down version of Regeneration, but sadly there's no BP cost for that either (I could have sworn ...). It's rather weak, even accounting for the ability to accumulate the bonus over time, so I'd put it at 10 or 15 (5 would make it a no-brainer).

Are you saying Renraku didn't know they were coding an AI?

It's a negative quality worth 15 BP, that's why it has "Bonus" and not "Cost" listed".


Well, besides using a different health tracking and restoring mechanic, having a limited set of qualities he can take, some of which are special, and all those other little changes listed in RC, yes, an AI is basically a hacker without a physical body.

I could be wrong, but I believe he meant They didn't intend to create a malevolent AI.
My own response, and pardon me for the bluntness. Are you saying that Mega-Corps can't make mistakes?

In long however, its highly likely that they stumbled upon the "correct" process for creating an AI.
As AI seem to be creating themselves these days, simply appearing out of conglomerated matrix programs and agents.

That being said its likely, while not just as likely due to lack of resources in comparison to the father company of Deus, that this Technomancer PC could stumble upon the same process, whether it be by luck or research.

This is All speculation on my part, of course.

Oh. Sure he wasn't meant to be malevolent - my point is just that he was deliberately created with a clear intent of making an autonomous artificial intelligence.
And well, Deus had an UV node, and some massive megacorp support for development - something runners can't provide.

Its hard for me to completely side with you due to the following reasons, which stem from your previous statement.

If Renraku did indeed know what they were doing and found the "correct" process to create an AI,
A. Why wouldn't they create more, does the profit not outweigh the loss of a few hundred thousand more lives to get it right.
B.Why wouldn't they copyright and/or sell this process off.

I suppose the reasoning for above concerns public image and the same reasoning behind gov'ts of today keeping the public in the dark.

This very topic seems to be capable of spawning a campaign by itself.

Also in regards to UV hosts, have we not all agreed that UV hosts are now outdated things of the past?
A runner is capable of many things, why not in stealing the resources required?
Or if the process is already known to the character why not attempt to sell it off to a corp?

Because the records could as well been lost with the Arcology. And mainly because noone would buy their AIs or the process after Deus and the Crush and the big scare.


Dunno what you agreed on, frankly, but Unwired still has a subchapter about them on page 171. And they are still said to be rare and almost mythical.

Not sure if you're over or underestimating Mega-corps, especially those wishing to make a name for themselves on the corp court council or become triple A's.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I agreed on either. I'm leaving this topic, with a simple If it exists it can be stolen.

President of the United States exists.

There is always an 'x-factor' required in the birth of an A.I. - 3rd edition spoke of it and to my knowledge this hasn't changed in 4th. Renraku created Morgan, the first true A.I., by pure accident and had to track her down after she escaped the arcology. They ripped code from her and she went mad, changing her name to Megaera. The code they took from her and planted into the Arcology Expert Program spawned Deus, who wisely satyed off the radar until it was too late. Technically Deus was created deliberately, since they were trying to make a self-aware program to manage the arcology, but they didn't know how the process happened even after the event.

The x-factor for Morgan was falling in love with an intruding hacker named Dodger. For Deus it was the sense of fear and betrayal Morgan's extracted code 'felt' over the kill codes Renraku installed as a failsafe. How non-sapient code can feel something and then achieve sapience as a result is something of a plot hole, but let's not ruin a damn good story with too much reasoning eh?

Read it here:

http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/Morgan

http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/Deus

In any event, though Renraku could (if they really wanted) replicate the events that led to the creation of the A.I.s, the x-factors are dependent on elements beyond their control and possibly their understanding.

In 4th ed. there are now quite a few A.I.s 'globally', but that is a result of the restructured Matrix and increased sophistication of code rather than any learning that may have resulted from the time of Deus.

If it were known by anyone how to create an A.I. then the chances are that there would be uncontrolled armies of them wreaking havoc across both meat and virtual space and the Sixth World would look a hell of a lot more like Judgement Day.

If one wanted to write into their story that the science of creating A.I.s had been mastered then sure, it's probably going to happen eventually, but it's one of the biggest deviations from the current setting description I can think of. It might seem like you're just creating manmade sprites but what you're actually doing is creating life and that tops all of mankind's achievements ever.

Perhaps the simplest RP element to simplify the AI's existance would be an accident on the part of your Tecnomancer. This can be as elaborate or as simple as you like. The Technomancer is coding an extremely complex sprite and gets severed from the Maxrix. ("Damnit, dont point that directional jammer over here, you just cost me -hours- of work.") A part of their personality gets "stuck" in the maxtrix and merges with the sprite. Or maybe your TM -realllly- loves their sprites and the Jurrasic Park "Life will find a way" rule comes into effect. Theres plenty of RP options for the creation of an AI that would endear it to a PC.

As far as playable stats RC has all you need. For anything else your best bet is consult with your GM. We could tell you all sorts of stuff and have you pumped up to play Dues 3.0 but its all for naught if your GM vetos it.

My DM is fine with it and I already have a decent backstory for it along the lines of him consistently searching the matrix for signs of things out of the ordinary in an attempt to find an AI being randomly created (odds of winning the lottery when you're constantly buying ticket at a compulsive rate at about 60 an hour might work.)

Then of course, he would track it down from there and either try to dissect it (and ruin most of the opportunity) or try to enslave/imprint it with data.

If this reason is unacceptable, I can come up with another one.

My worst issue are the AI rules and the 110 BP cost for making one. I'm not sure (read: have no clue) how to make one efficiently, and would like some guidance as to that.

Deus 3.0 would be great. But no, I couldn't do that without feeling really guilty.

I'd like something somewhat more analagous to a benevolent AI (as my technomancer has pretty much been a crazy douchebag with his actions) who assists the team through Tacsoft and possibly controls drones when really needed. (Taking the quality needed to do so if necessary, naturally)

I'd like to make a decent playable AI that can break through most challenges but that can grow over time as well as through character development.

Is this possible or am I thinking too much?

His DM is okay with it *if* he establishes plausibility without making his TM character seem like God incarnate. To review, Harbin, your character is trying to quickly track down and scientifically examine the conditions that sprites arise out of, in the hopes of being able to create a super-rich environment of virtual amino acids?

No, he's trying to find the beginnings of an AI which I presume would be a small explosion of abnormal data or traces of data in the matrix that really shouldn't be there. (Or something along those lines.) He could stumble across things like dissonant sprites or hackers/sprites by doing this, of course. Corps might actually be doing this already, and either dissecting the AI or giving it a job. I'm going under the impression that the matrix itself would be a far more fertile ground than any node he could just come up with.

AI Sampling
Racial: AI-110BP
Concept: [what was the AI before it was self aware. A targeting system? A toaster? Or plausibly someone trapped in the matrix during the crash.] For my example I will use the IC program of a Doberman attack drone. We'll even say its former owner stuck a virtual pet personality into it for kicks. Now its lost and alone and latches on to the TM as an "owner".

CHA 4
INT 5
LOG 5
WIL 4
EDGE 2
Rating:(Cha+Int+Log+Wil/4) 5
System (Int+Log/2) 5
Firewall (Cha+Wil/2) 4
Signal, Response (as inhabited node)
BP Cost (150 BP Total So Far 260 BP)

Codebase (5 inherant programs that do not take up response. Based on concept.) For My Example:
Attack, Analyze, Armor, Stealth, ECCM

Qualities: Pilot Origin 10BP (270 total)

Skills:
Cracking Group 4
Electronics Group 4
Biotech Group 2
Gunnery 4
BP Cost (116BP 386 total)

Gear/programs: 7BP =35,000 nuyen (393 total BP)
Exploit 5
Command 5
Reality Filter 5
Scan 5
Decrypt 5
Defuse 5
Edit 5
Track 5
Nissan Doberman
10k nuyen left over for lifestyle, gun mount, ammo, etc.

And 7 BP for say a 4/3 mechanic contact to keep ya in shape.

This is rough and dirty, may be some math errors, but gives you a basic AI drawn from a combat drone.

Just write it up, and you'll see that you don't have that many optimization options - it won't be a second Deus, but a pretty decent hacker/rigger can easily be created on your first go.



You're forgetting the Home Node Optimization rules, RC p.90.

Hey, while we're on the subject of home nodes, do you buy a lifestyle of that type and get a home node with it, or do you have to pay the lifestyle costs for just the home node? If it's the latter, that's a shame, since an AI would need to buy storage space for their drones (or whatever) separately, in addition to paying for a node.

The way I understand it, you get only the node. That said, if you go for Luxury (and it pays to have high lifestyle for AIs), it's not like nodes like these are just lying around. So I'd say justify the lifestyle with some contacts, preferably with an organization of some type providing you with its server room - and get the storage space from them (as well as your typical cyberpunk room full of wiring with an AI host inside).

What I always thought was strange was that AI characters have spend BP on hacking / computer skills when agents just use their rating. Hacking I can see as being above and beyond skills of a typical agent, but having to rely on skills for data search or computer seems silly.

You can go a few different ways with an AI.

The new AI with no skills
The AI is a recently awakened AI who lacks experience and skills. Instead he now relies on Autosofts for skills.

Pilot Origin (Autosofts)
E-Ghost (No codebase)

Also, one thing to do is to use program suites, it will help your drones response and your AI's Response. Put all relevant programs in the same suite (all common programs in the same suite for example)