Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence, or Artificial Intellects, commonly shortened to AI, refers to a computer or a robot that is "self-aware", meaning it is capable of not only logical deduction, reasoning and speaking, but knows of its own existence, the possibility of its own mortality (and immortality), and possesses creativity, desire, and, emotion.

Background
Although artificial intelligences had existed long before the 21st century, the first "true" AI was developed by Microtech in their Californian Sunnyvale facility in 2013. By 2020, artificial intelligences had found use in education as watchdogs for virtual schooling students to prevent interference from outside forces, as well as revolutionizing the United States Supreme Court, specifically by assisting the five Justices, and lower levels of the American legal system.

After the Fourth Corporate War, the use of "true" AI was restricted, due to the destruction caused by them during the War, however, various other forms of AI continued to be utilized, such as the Self-Adaptive AI (SAAI) present in all Agent devices.

Clandestine areas of the Net, known as "ghost towns", are hidden areas located throughout the Old Net, providing sanctuary to digitized consciousnesses. The central ghost town is the Ghost World, sometimes referred to as simply "Ghost Town", though almost all ghost towns are rumored to have been founded by the digital consciousness of Alt Cunningham. The Ghost World is made up of a computer network based out of the ruins of Hong Kong that was abandoned during the desertion of the city, repurposed by Cunningham to be a place where all AIs can live among their own kind.

By 2077, artificial intelligence had stemmed out once more into public and daily life, from exercise training and defense robots, to specialized transport vehicle pilots.

Gameplay
AI (Artificial Intelligence) are common entities in The Net that come in different shapes and sizes. The Cyberpunk 2020 Interface supplement, introduced a new appellation for Artificial Intelligence. Giving them the designation of "Powers" a reference from Christian angelology to the angels who were empowered by God to wage war in his name. Data transfer and long-distance links in the Net are monitored by Angels who are dispatched to investigate curious circumstances before human intervention is required. It also gave birth to Netwatch, an organisation dedicated to safeguarding humanity from nefarious Netrunners and Rogue Artificial Intelligence.

Rogue A.I's survive by residing for a time in Internet sub processors and relay stations, but this is a dangerous prospect because they are extremely vulnerable in this position. Eventually, they must find another computer to hang out in. They can barter with other AIs to sublet some living space, they can move into a non-sentient system and camouflage themselves by taking over the systems tasks, or they can invade and kill another Artificial Intelligence. Other rogue A.I's, faced with imminent destruction, will spore themselves copying their highest functions to a small compressed file headed by a non-sentient hardware search program. The Artificial Intelligence then replicates these spores and sends them shooting through the Net looking for a place to self-extract.

AI Types
Artificial Intelligence can be demarcated into five categories. Dedicated Heuristic Controllers are the simplest and most mundane. Self-aware in a limited fashion, they are programmed to undertake specific tasks.

Symbolic Analysis Artificial Intelligence are those designed to emulate the thinking patterns of human beings. Most are used as personal secretaries and on-line assistance, as they are able to easily render advice. A subclass of symbolic analysis Artificial Intelligence are the remains of those humans whose brain patterns were extracted into the Net before their deaths.

Transcendental Sentience Artificial Intelligence are the result of new Ihara-Grubb algorithms. They are problematic, as their psyche is the only world they know. To an Artificial Intelligence like this, a Netrunner will not be viewed as an independent organism, rather just another subroutine that requires deletion.

Critical Pathway Plateau Artificial Intelligence are contingent upon having enough neural links being established in a holographic crystal processing network. The crystal lattice enables Artificial Intelligence genesis by making cross-processing and holographic data recognition possible. Critical Pathway Plateaus are the result of making general-purpose heuristic controllers on a large mainframe. The first was Mark I, which appeared in Microtech's military tactical simulator in 2013. Someone called Stephen Law took credit for this discovery, despite it being purely serendipitous. Software-only based Artificial Intelligence would not be discovered until 2018.

Personality-wise, Artificial Intelligence, play by their own internal logic, which is often skewed and hard to decipher. They possess the full spectrum of personalities, ranging from childlike and motivated by curiosity to Godlike, where the Artificial Intelligence is cognisant of the intellectual limitations of Homo sapiens. A Godlike Artificial Intelligence deals with humans as though they were ignoramuses. A.I's have also demonstrated aberrant behaviour akin to schizophrenia and megalomania.

Notable Artificial Intelligences (2020)

 * AC101CENT 2125 (Accent)
 * Intrepid (formerly INTR3PD)
 * Illuminati
 * Lonestar (formerly LS-8068JCN-8998)
 * Oracle
 * VAST (V-Aligned Sector Titan)
 * Vigilante (formerly VIGIL, Vital Intelligence Gathering Information Link)