Thinking Machines

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Thinking machines, AI, robots, cybernetic life, inorganic artificial life, they come by many names and are similarly reflective of a diverse array of potential entities. Similarly, their legal status varies from full citizens to essentially servants from state to state. Within the Directorate, artificial life are protected as a form of sophont when they meet the criteria, but are additionally not commonly manufactured. The Directorate has a strong suspicion of thinking machines and intelligent life is uncommon in its domain.

Physical Description

It's impossible to qualify all thinking machines in a single description, however what unifies them is primarily inorganic components and some form of thinking brain. While there are far less advanced thinking machines used as simple tools and far more powerful ones as part of a system such as a starship's brain, these are beyond the scale of this description.

Heritages

In general, citizen-level artificial intelligences are designed for a purpose. It is rare a thinking machine is made with no design in mind or for simple 'universal existence.' Of note is it is extremely uncommon for a thinking machine to not enjoy or desire to do its intended purpose. They are not simply professions, but an entire reason for being.

  • Administrative Machines Designed to parse data and deal with bureaucracy, paperwork, crunch numbers and do complex business and social mathematics, these machines are often styled to be attractive, sleek, and are often artistic in nature, meant to look appealing in a corporate or government setting without looking too 'person like'.
  • War Machines Almost entirely designed with military purpose in mind, though some highly illegal home made ones exist, these machines are not usually forces of unbridled destruction but calculated soldiers, adept at taking orders and are usually designed to be capable in a variety of combat conditions. They are usually durable, armored, and usually possess significant bulk, often to absorb shock. They are almost universally highly divergent from any appearance of biological life.
  • Labor Machines One of the most common varieties are lifters, workers and tools, they vary from almost entirely humanoid in form to almost entirely industrial-equipment like, depending on the conditions they are meant to work in, they rarely resemble people more than pieces of equipment.
  • Caretaker machines Designed to be either sterile and tool like, or are programmed for a purely pleasing experience with soft, often very organic looking components, these machines vary from nurses, companions for the elderly, nannies or protectors for children, or automated, intelligent doctors and surgeons.
  • Pleasure Machines A controversial variety of thinking machine, they most commonly resemble biological sophonts and usually have soft, pliant portions of their body and are designed for direct sexual interaction. Manufacture of pleasure-machines is considered a form of slavery in most areas, yet their presence continues, and grows throughout known space.
  • Information Machines A unique subset of entirely digital or 'information based' thinking machine, they lack any physical embodiment, though some utilize drones to transfer or act as real world hands. They are often manufactured to help manage complex systems but are very rare within the Directorate.

History

The history of robotics is hard to pin down, most societies have had some variety before the space age, and some managed to create true thinking machines before their own space age. Similarly, evidence shows precursors used robotics extensively. But their modern development reached a zenith in and around the Solar Empire, which built a vast network of thinking machines known as Styx that went rogue, and had the potential for ending much of life as we know it. Defeated by a combination of the Directorate and the Empire, it led to change in how, and why machines were manufactured for those in the Directorate, and much more stringent controls or 'indoctrination procedures' out of those in other places.

The Directorate regulates a great deal of thinking machines. Within its borders. While relative sophont level intelligence models, known as 'citizen grade' informally, are permitted relative autonomy with registration, regular medical checks, and certain standards of manufacture. They are not considered true individuals, but have significant protections from abuse. Some are strictly illegal. Notably war machines which are not manufactured within the Directorate for war, and are significantly de-militarized within its borders, foreign ones are usually transitioned with significant neural behavior alterations to turn them into guards, security and are given significant indoctrination in proper and limited use of force. Another form that is strictly illegal in the Directorate are pleasure machines, which usually can only operate in the shadows.

Larger intelligences that are made as part of a system or physical installation do exist, primarily for internal management of stations, starships or the like specifically when a population cannot be large enough onboard or its mission requires significant independent operation. Small, independent scout ships with relatively small crews are the most common users of intelligences. A rare example of a larger vessel with a thinking machine is the station DS-11 which a large AI system integrated to, originally, help operate the ship with a skeletal crew and more importantly, permit the technologically isolated station design to better integrate into the Directorate war effort. These thinking machines are the limit in the Directorate.

Used primarily among humanity, the heirs of the Styx Overmind, they are massive networks often operating from multiple nodes across a fleet and capable of vast information qualification. These are absolutely illegal within the Directorate, and even operating an overmind linked ship within the Directorate isn't permitted during joint operations.

Society

Thinking machine society is a reflection of the behaviors and beliefs of their creators. Human machines are often encouraged to wonder about identity and roll in society, those in Vesreen believe in consensus and debate, and within the Directorate, they vary based on clan attitudes. Federally, Directorate Thinking Machines are regulated heavily and are, unless illegally made, designed to enjoy their purpose, live for their purpose, and usually have strict legal policies ensuring they receive some amount of updates.

Beliefs

A misunderstanding organic life often has is a belief that machines are immortal. Their data decays, their bodies while they do not age, are in many respects more susceptible to damage and destruction than an organic and must be constantly replaced, adjusted and maintained. Even a purely digital entity has key parts of their personality and entity damaged by lost data, disruptions from ambient radiation, and more. Many machines choose to end their lives or receive complete personality wipes during periods of their existence to avoid a feeling of wasting away. Additionally, artificial intelligence can be as introspective and religious as their organic peers, with some worshiping organic gods, and some worshiping their creators. Others worship nebulous artificial divinities believed to be accumulations of data. While some cults even worship, in secret, entities like the Styx AI or the precursor Stygians and long or work in secret towards a thinking-machine ruled universe, this is strictly a rarity.

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