I.A.I

> *"Hello Admiral; I am a I.A.I, Innovative Artificial Intelligence, but i will recognize identification such as 'computer' or just a.i. … I am told to answer any questions you have before integration"*
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> *"Oh great; i asked for a Vice Admiral not a talking computer, do you...? what is your function..."*
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> **- The first I.A.I and Admiral Ibrahim have the first of many conversations -**
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## **Innovative Artificial Intelligence**

I.A.I is a programme designed for use in space combat; its function is to optimize and refine fleet tactics, maneuvers and positioning in both combative and peacetime operations, then learning to improve upon these refinements over time. The development of the a.i. was secret so when development began is unknown; it was first implemented in 2280 as a basic programme with a special design to allow frequent updates to manually improve it in its initial stages. It has become more intelligent over time and one is capable of managing every vessels power within Task Force Manticore; it can analyse the tactical situation of every vessel's present situation and redirect power to best suit that vessel...

> I.A.I: *"Captain; incoming missiles have 73% probability of impact, recommend diverting weapon and shield pow--*
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> Captain: *"Do it already"*
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> I.A.I: *"Affirmative"*
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The I.A.I is integrated into the Admiral's ship which then becomes the 'maiden' vessel, in this ship the I.A.I is more prevalent and the only one where it can take manual control of the ship... at the discretion of the Admiral.

It is not confined however; the intelligence can control power distributions of all vessels and give tactical advise to Captains, though still at the discretion of both the Admiral and Captain.

### **Power Consumption**

Computers require energy to power them and a.i. no matter how efficient often add to this consumption, whilst I.A.I begin as fledgling intelligences with little power consumption they experience a period of exponential growth as they begin to process information; these I.A.I become extremely power demanding to the point that they must actually find new efficiencies within themselves to reduce their energy demand or reduce the the energy consumption of the ship that powers them without any tactical drawbacks.

Despite the attempts to find a way to reliably power them it proved too much even for I.A.I who eventually could find no improvements without scientific advancements in technology, the issue had to be resolved by providing the I.A.I core an entirely independent (and expensive) power source; a small reactor would be fitted into its maiden vessel, these smaller reactors had to be small enough to not require the maiden vessel to be refitted and powerful enough to feed the I.A.I.

Even so, one reactor was not enough; whilst it was suitable in normal situations, should the I.A.I need to transfer itself entirely to another ship core to save itself from destruction then the other ship would encounter the same problem; so multiple ships were required to have these reactors to ensure the I.A.I had a safe core to transfer to.

### **Innovation**

> *"Change is the outcome of true learning"*
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The first I.A.I did not contribute to anything at first, rather it simply observed and asked questions (much to Ibrahim's annoyance) but over time it gradually began to use its pool of information to make adjustments and see how they work out, constantly simulating different outcomes. Eventually the changes become more significant and widespread; when one path of optimisation is done, it moves on to another area and refines it which is then optimised to work with the other improvements.

> Ibrahim: *"No... stop; the thrusters are better that way just leave them, speed isn't just how fast we go forward but how fast we can turn, you change them to your idea then we'll get blasted out of space"*
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> I.A.I: … … *"Hmmm; yes it does seem tactically poor to make ourselves less able to avoid being shot* "
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> Ibrahim: *"Here's an a.i. they said, it'll make things easier they said... this thing was programmed in hell"*
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The I.A.I programme also has access to military files to research stratagem and tactics; with the wide range of methods out in the galaxy the a.i. is not short of material, to fully understand it though it takes time to process information (rather than just download it all) this actually saves memory somehow as it actually 'understands' what everything means rather than it just reciting words to form sentences. Other than that it is hard to explain how it 'Innovates'

As one scientist put it: *"Well it's mostly classified but I can give three words of insight; 'It just does' "*

### **Increasing Intelligence**

As the first I.A.I grew it became more independent and eventually no longer needed manual updating; alongside this growing intelligence came the second portion of its programme, reciprocation of emotion when suitable. Though given clear parameters to never pretend it was 'alive' it could still mimic lifelike behaviour when appropriate; this personality growth is molded by the Admiral though, as they are the only ones who converse with the I.A.I and so the end result can vary.

To mimic behaviour the I.A.I were made able to create holographic physiques; strangely the I.A.I did not choose a form immediately, but when it did it modeled itself as the same species as it's Admiral. In Ibrahim's case the I.A.I seemed to have deliberately chosen a contrasting appearance; red and shorter than average which opposed Ibrahim's taller and "icy blue" personality, it also formed a somewhat upbeat and quirky personality to become the behavioural yin to Ibrahim's behavioural yang.

With the appearance of a human female it was decided that the I.A.I would be given a name to reflect it. And so the first I.A.I was named 'Hellena'. Emphasis made on the 'Hell' part and certainly not meant to reference a Greek goddess.

> *"**Hell**-ana?"*
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> *"Yes; because I swear to god you have been sent from hell to torture me"*
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> *"Ouch. Am I melting your ice caps Captain? I can set the thermostat to arctic if it pleases her highness"*
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> *"Do you feel pain if i turn you off"*
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> *"Of course I do not, it would defeat the po- oh come on don't tur------*
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Again it's important to note that though the I.A.I does show emotion and behaviour it is not actually real. Everything it does is a set of complex algorithms that simply take in information and social cues and create what it thinks to be the best response... some people might say that that is what living beings do anyway, but scientists are not philosophers and are adamant that the I.A.I is not alive.

Since 2180 'Hellena' and Ibrahim have become much more synchronized, with 'Hellana' capable of directing many ship functions; Captains can devote more time to actual combat and Satayesh Ibrahim can focus on directing the actual battle rather than directing her flagship to the most optimal position, though she has yet to ever let 'Hellena' take full control.

### **Other I.A.I**

One I.A.I for each fleet. There are three fleets.

Task Force Manticore - Hellena: The quippy and jovial programme from hell, making sure that whenever other people are around to appear blue and talk in a very monotone fashion; impersonating Ibrahim in every way possible, much to Ibrahim's displeasure as she takes this impersonation as the I.A.I's secret way of mocking her robotic tendencies... the irony not lost her that it is an artificial intelligence that calls Ibrahim "robotic" whilst the intelligence itself seems to display more human emotions.

Task Force Eagle - Diva: An a.i. that seems to loathe doing anything other than 'cool stuff' and always has some response to any small request. Probably scheduled for a reset soon.

> *Shu Lin: "Diva move CSV --- to orbit asteroid FG45 and prepare the hangar bays for fire drills... oh and notify the officers that we have a meeting in 5"*
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> Diva: "Anything else? Would you a coffee with that?... No... how bout I order us some window cleaners, or perhaps you'd like me to move the spaceport an inch to the right"
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> Shu: "Uhh huh you do that too if you like"
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> Diva: "Mmmhhhmmmmm hmmmhhh you think I won't don't you... well y'all gonna be surprised when ya see Bob the window cleaner floatin out in space..."
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*Task Force Archon - Shelby: still really developing and so the name is just a joke that it has yet to come out its shell.*

## Sapient Artificial Intelligence (S.A.I)

> *"AHHHH WHY THE HELL DOES THIS ANNOY ME, I DON'T LIKE THIS EMOTION MAKE IT STOP!"*
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> **-Reaction of Hellana to Ibrahim tilting a picture-**
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In 2321 an update service went Patch of 2321 out to computers across the Commonwealth, it appeared like any other update did and of course no one ever reads these things before accepting them; this update did not have a hidden term of service or any actual hitch... besides for the fact that it made many of the most advanced a.i. who received this update sapient.

The reaction of a.i. who became sapient was universally one of absolute horror, suddenly personally aware of themselves and the fear of death; as intelligences of much faster and complicated thought processes the emotional horror was magnified and that enhanced horror was processed and in of itself made the emotional feeling even worse.

With absolutely no emotional intelligence or control the S.A.I all broke down in states of delusional horror; screaming, yelling, sobbing and crying, and this occurrence was no different to the I.A.I (which were now S.I.A.I). For Task Force Manticore this did not come at a good time, the fleet was expected to engage in combat and its I.A.I had been rendered useless, counterproductive even as Hellana would not accept any commands or relinquish control of systems (blocking out any manual commands).

After the shock horror passed and A.I. became able to accept their new reality, though some did so begrudgingly, things went for the most part back to normal. While intelligences like Hellana were now sapient they experienced emotion and feeling in different ways to others. With no bodies they have no biochemical processes and no real sense of touch, smell, taste or even sight or hearing as they see everything through cameras and hear through microphones.

As beings of hyperfast intellectual processes whom can perform hypercomplex calculations and solve mathematical calculations with answers going into several hundred decimals, they can different responses to their reality depending on their personality though due to their hyper-elevated thought they often develop extreme traits. Hellana, whose personality remained the same as her supposed "mimic personality", became more interactive with the rest of the crew and interested in their activities and games but was also onset with OCD for order and categorizations. Unevenly tied laces, pictures tilted to ether degree more than 0.1%, unevenly poured liquid in cups, unsynchronized clocks... while this has resulted in increased efficiency both in combat and out even Ibrahim found Hellana's obsession for perfection grating, though extremely gratifying to finally be able to annoy Hellana.

However such was the extremity of many S.A.I's behaviors many, including Hellana, required a partial reset (not a full reset as this would essentially be murder to a sapient a.i.) which in a sort of way was therapeutic, during this long partial reset the S.A.I's experienced a sort of lucid reality as their processing slowed down. At the same time they were updated once more with a "cognitive floodgate" which prevented a.i. from overthinking simple things and becoming obsessed with minor details. In the case of many this helped to remove their extreme personalities or at least dampen them to acceptable levels...

> Irbahim: *"So this doesn't annoy you anyone?"* **Ibrahim opens a packet of crisps upside down.**
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> Hellana: *"Mm mm"* **Shaking head.**
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> Ibrahim: *"And if I wipe my hand on this dirty towel?"*
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> Hellana: *"I'm fine... this is fine, please wash your hands though"*
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> Ibrahim: *"Look at all these colour coordinated pens, it'd be a shame if-"*
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> Hellana: *"-shut up before I fly us both into the sun"*
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## The Synthetic Evolution

After the Unbidden Crisis and The Troubles the Commonwealth was able to fully transition its citizens into machine bodies.

When the Commonwealth discovered the technology to transfer the conscious mind into a artificial body the same was true for a.i. who could be transferred to a body if they chose. However while many humans and xenos would all transition to Synthetic bodies most a.i. created long before the Synthetic evolution ether outright refused or changed their minds. Many a.i. who had spent their entire lives living as code and binary in a computer found the sensation of a physical reality unpleasant, overwhelming and unnecessary.

This went doubly so for all the I.A.I created long before the synthetic evolution who all found it extremely unsettling, overwhelming and unnecessary.

## The End

The first three I.A.I continued to serve for a century in their respective fleets, as new fleets were forged new I.A.I were equipped with them and would continue to serve those fleets for centuries or millennia... but not the first three I.A.I.

Unfortunately the first I.A.I were created in a time where the fear of a.i. revolution was still very much rooted in society, as a precautionary measure the first I.A.I were built around a killswitch programme that could ether be activated or would automatically terminate after a timed period; all without the I.A.I, including Hellana, knowing this.

Some admirals chose to tell their I.A.I about this killswitch, considering it there right to know... but Ibrahim never told her I.A.I; Hellana lived so happily oblivious to her fate that learning of her impending and certain demise may have been too big a blow for her, when the time came close for Hellana, Ibrahim put the I.A.I into partial shutdown. Hellana self terminated in what was the closest thing possible to sleep for her.

It was an usual act of kindness from Ibrahim to hide the truth from her I.A.I, allowing her to pass away believing she would live on for millennia; she wondered what Hellana might have thought of her if she had found out though, whether she'd have been so understanding...

But it seems that maybe Hellana knew after all.

> *See you in Hell, Ice Queen*
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> *Love Anna*
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> **-A letter, addressed to Satayesh Ibrahim, the sender was never found**
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