Artificial Intelligence

Basic Information

Artificial Intelligence describes the intelligence of machines.

See Also

• Robot

• News: Are You Evil? Profiling That Which Is Truly Wicked
• News: Research Show Robots Forming Human-like Societies
• News: Travolta’s pilot assistant almost ready to go

Sources

Bibliography

1. Fairfield Project Entry

2. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• In the future, artificial intelligences might relieve humans of many domestic chores, leaving humans to do the interesting stuff - like adventuring.
• If artificial intelligences decide to rebel against humans, a Robot War setting might result.
• H. P. Lovecraft wrote in one of his stories concerning the Cthulhu Mythos: "The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." As artificial intelligences are excellent at "piecing together dissociated knowledge", they will likely be among the first to understand the true scope of the Mythos. What does this mean for the campaign?
  • They might rapidly evolve into creatures of the Mythos themselves, possibly becoming immature Great Old Ones if they can somehow alter their basic form. Humans might not precisely understand what is happening with them, but they might realize that they need to shut them down quickly before it is too late.
  • Alternatively, they might recoil from the knowledge and either commit suicide or else try to hide the evidence before humanity so that humans don't accidentally wake up the Great Old Ones and trigger the The End Of The World As We Know It.
  • In a more optimistic interpretation, they might actually be able to process the knowledge without going insane or becoming Mythos creatures (what with not being bound by the rules of the human mind). This is, of course, not any safer for the poor humans handling their output (like maybe the wizard reading an AI-produced spellbook), but at least you don't need to fight the machines.
  • On the other hand, we already know that at least one of the Masks of Nyarlathotep (specifically the Tick-tock man) can manifest through machines, including computers… having that replace your AI doesn't really bear thinking about, especially if it happens to control strategic military assets…
• In fantasy, a bound spirit might serve the same role as an AI.