Rogue AIs

[Draco18s]

Just like to point out:

Deus, Shadowrun

Shodan (System Shock)

They did go the "AI of AI War" route.  They also both happened to have lost (although admittedly, Deus was bested by his cousin Psychotrope (aka Mirage) and mother Megaera, and not by humans).

Psychotrope also almost went the evil-AI route when it shut down the Seattle grid for 10 minutes to "experiment" on humans while at the same time going bat shit insane from a virus.  It made for an amazing book.

[CogDissident]

As much as I absolutely love the Psychotrope book (and really, how many novels out there take place in the space of exactly 12 minutes?) Psychotrope isn't really a "lone" AI, it is a collective, as portrayed in the book. A number of linked subroutines that were all programmed as psychotropic black intrusion countermeasures, which were intended to be triggered on programmers who hack their systems.

But anyway, back on topic. Another one to add to this list of insane AIs is the "TechnoCore" (Hyperion, and Fall of Hyperion), a collective AI that plans to implant all of humanity with symbionts to keep them alive so it can use their brains as processors for itself.

[Draco18s]

As much as I absolutely love the Psychotrope book (and really, how many novels out there take place in the space of exactly 12 minutes?) Psychotrope isn't really a "lone" AI, it is a collective, as portrayed in the book. A number of linked subroutines that were all programmed as psychotropic black intrusion countermeasures, which were intended to be triggered on programmers who hack their systems.

No, Mirage is/was a single AI mind.  Originally, it acted as a powerful anti-virus and psychological countermeasure program that was designed to prevent the Crash Virus of '29 from damaging the minds of the Echo Mirage team. Its sophisticated programming combined with its intimate connection with so many vulnerable minds spurred it to sentience, but this quality was somehow overlooked after Echo Mirage was done with its task.

And just for reference, Echo Mirage was--IIRC--34 people.  19 of them were dead inside 5 minutes, and only five or six (depending of if you count an eGhost) survived the whole encounter.

When Fuchi ceased to exist in March 2060, Mirage took that to mean that the Virus had won by destroying its "home" grid. This activated latent programming that caused Mirage to believe that it must shutdown the grid (to destroy the "Virus" once and for all), causing the Seattle RTG ("Regional Telecommunications Grid" IIRC) to shutdown for 11 minutes.  People accessing the RTG at the time suffered memory loss, psychotic episodes, or brain death.

[CogDissident]

Good point, shows how long its been since I read that. Though in light of that, I think Mirage would still have to be a candiate for the "not-the-AI" category, since it is pretty limited in scope and ability, and doesn't actually react in such a way that would wipe out humanity (it doesn't even perceive the real world, not even when viewing cameras, and clearly isn't written to cope with it).

So, any other AIs to suggest people?

[Draco18s]

Good point, shows how long its been since I read that. Though in light of that, I think Mirage would still have to be a candiate for the "not-the-AI" category, since it is pretty limited in scope and ability, and doesn't actually react in such a way that would wipe out humanity (it doesn't even perceive the real world, not even when viewing cameras, and clearly isn't written to cope with it).

Which is a good point.  How "aware" it was of the real world when it shut down Seattle is questionable.  It was doing "brain surgery" on people to make otaku, but how much of that was awareness of the real world and not just "things attached to the matrix" was unclear.

[Mánagarmr]

Chiming in on the Avatar-bash here. I personally felt that while the story was sort of lacking, the scenery, setting and acting made up for it in terms of entertainment. It's not a good MOVIE, but it's good entertainment. I thoroughly enjoyed it, in spite of the rather bland plot. Kinda like a rollercoaster.

[CogDissident]

Seriously, why are people continuing to talk about that random tangent. Make your own thread if you want to bash avatar with the same repetitive comments made on every forum that has ever had a sci-fi theme, seriously.

[zebramatt]

Er, I'm pretty sure that last guy was complementing Avatar!

[Draco18s]

Er, I'm pretty sure that last guy was complementing Avatar!

It still has nothing to do with the thread title.

[eRe4s3r]

Of course it does, because humans and Aliens are also Artificial Lifeforms.. just fyi (In case that appears as untrue, remember that a Human is only Human because of Society and Education 2 artificial things) without these we are truly natural lifeforms, but theres nothing NATURAL about education or our current society

So the Thread Title is not only blurry but also wrong. What the OT probably means is AGI's. But then again, nobody dies from a bit Off Topic talk ;p

[Draco18s]

Of course it does, because humans and Aliens are also Artificial Lifeforms.. just fyi

And how, exactly, does that connect to the Avatar: The Last Airbender live action film (and debating its merits)?

[eRe4s3r]

Maybe because the were some humans that went rogue? ;P

That said, its not unusual for a topic to have 2 or even 3 different discussions going on about completely unrelated things. ... I don't even understand how Avatar could come into the discussion heh given that it was only mentioned 1 time with not much else but saying its name.

So, and given that we reached at a AI vs AGI moment, i want to mention the Reapers from Mass Effect as the supreme Rogue AGI ;P

[RCIX]

Chiming in on the Avatar-bash here. I personally felt that while the story was sort of lacking, the scenery, setting and acting made up for it in terms of entertainment. It's not a good MOVIE, but it's good entertainment. I thoroughly enjoyed it, in spite of the rather bland plot. Kinda like a rollercoaster.

Of course it does, because humans and Aliens are also Artificial Lifeforms.. just fyi

And how, exactly, does that connect to the Avatar: The Last Airbender live action film (and debating its merits)?

Durr, we're talking about Avatar the sci fi movie not Avatar the last airbender

(unless you were sarcastic, in which case...)

[Draco18s]

Durr, we're talking about Avatar the sci fi movie not Avatar the last airbender

Ok two things:
1) I wasn't paying attention to the origination of the discussion
2) Damn Hollywood and their freaking titles.  Two films with similar names within 2 years of each other only confuses the crap out of everyone.

[Kron]

I have a third take on the "sci-fi" subject. I don't like sci-fi primarily for the characters, nor do I like it for the fanciful settings... I like it for its frequently underlying "speculative fiction" themes.

Science fiction stories often have setups like "Imagine the world... except we add in X. What would it be like?" and then they project the setting forwards. Stories like Rendezvous With Rama used to tickle my brain as a kid.


As for AI types, I'd like to add "orthogonal AI"; AIs who have goals that are basically unrelated to humanity's in any real way, and can help or hender depending on the circumstances.