Should Artificial Intelligence kill hard Scifi roleplaying?

"One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep." --Anton Chekhov

Artificial Intelligence (AI) scares people. It doesn't scare me more than agriculture, industrialization or the Internet should have scared people when they emerged. It is both a source of solutions and problems that we soon won't be able to imagine living without. What changes, however, is the very definition of life.

One of Checkhov's gun in GURPS Transhuman Space is the sapiens AI. If we're to put it on stage, then we should be firing it. The question is: would it kill the story before it gets interesting for us? Edits: I'd like to specify that "firing the gun" doesn't mean that AI is a weapon to be fired, but that it broadly has to be a meaningful part of the story.

I'm having a lot of fun developing the Transhuman Space world from the GURPS sourcebooks. Here is an example of a story taking on future shock head first involving an uplifted whale indulging into piracy.

Pirate Whale 1 - Hostile takeover

This new story thread explore the life of an uplifted pirate whale named Vermood. The universe is the canonical world of GURPS Transhuman Space. The setup requires a lot of explanation, but I thought that I'd weave background with a narrative to keep things spicy.

Vermood Tsuunga, uplifted pirate whale

Vermood Tsuunga, uplifted pirate whale [256]

Gengineered humpback whale, Malaysia, Terra. 18 y.o.

Attributes [175] - ST 110 [160]; IQ 7 [-60]; DX 10; HT 14 [40], Per 11 [20]; Will 10 [15]; HP 110; FP 14; SM +5; Features [60] - Accute hearing 4 [8]; Alertness 4 [20]; Enhanced move (swim) 1 [10]; Independent focus eye [15]; Injury tolerance (no neck) [5]; Nictating membrane 1 [5]; Peripheral vision [15]; Pressure support 2 [10]; Sonar vision [12]; Doesn't breath (oxygen storage X 100) [14]; subsonic hearing [5]; subsonic speech [0]; DR 10 [50]; Ichtyoid [-50]; Bestial [-10]; Mute [-15]; Short lifespan 1 [-10]; Creative thinker [1]; Standing [10] - Social Stigma (wild animal) -2 [-10], Wealthy [20]; Status 1 [0]; Culture [3] - cetaceans (N/-) [0]; Anglic (-/A) [2]; Cultural familiarity (muslim) [1];

Skills [17] - Inter-personal: Diplomacy-12 [2]; Professional: Navigation-8 [4]; Expert skill(Memetics)-11 [2]; streetwise-11 [1]; computer operation/TL10-14 [4]; Other: stealth-10 [2]; writing-13 [4]; Research-11 [1]; Area Knowledge (Montreal)-12 [1]; Current-affairs(social)-12 [1];

Allies [8] - Kraken [127], ghost mind emulation; callous [-5]; ghost mind emulation: IQ 11 [20]; DX 10; computer operation/TL10-14 [8]; Computer operations(intrusion)-12 [7]; Computer programming-11 [4]; Intimidation-12 [4]; Complexity/7; Modular Ability [90] (21cps): Eidetic Memory [5], Tactics-12 [8]; Guns(rifle)-12 [4]; Soldier-13 [4];

Allies [8] - Tsion [120], LAI: IQ9 [20]; DX 10 [0]; Electronic Operations(sensor)-10 [4]; Electronic Operations(comm)-11 [8]; Electronic repairs-10 [4]; computer operation/TL10-10 [2]; Piloting(boat)-11 [4]; Navigation(sea)-11 [8]; Complexity/6; Modular Ability [70] (16cps): Merchant-10 (Complexity/4), Market-Analysis-9 (Complexity/4); Law-10 (Complexity/5);

Cybershells
Virtual Interface Implant [-95] - microframe (Complexity/8, 1,000Pb), E cell (6 h); backup small computer (Complexity/6, 1Pb) Software: Mugshot/4, social telepresence/4, virtual tutor/3, augmented reality/4; routing/7; developer's studio 1 (Complexity/5); Cryptokit 2 (Complexity/7); Trader's suite 1 (Complexity/5); Network Analyst 1 (Complexity/5);
cyberdoll [127] - Bandar, male, Indian ethnic package. small computer (Complexity/6) Software: Mugshot/4, social telepresence/4, virtual tutor/3, augmented reality/4; Electronic repairs 1 (Complexity/5)

Ikan paus - see template A shallow sea submersible made of bioengineered cetacean hide.

Ikan paus, dry-cutter cybershell

The Ikan paus is a ship/cybershell that is capable to store dry cargo even when submersed. Although a submersible, I am using the Spaceship rules of ship design. 

300-ton Dry-cutter cybershell (TL10)

SM7; 30 yd.; 50 dHP; HT 12; Hnd-1; SR5; streamlined; 120 dT cargo; test depth: 462ft/50m; Occ 2; $10.2M

System table

• Front Hull
• [1] Armor, Organic (dDR3)
• [2] SM6-sized (Control Rool C7, Sensor/5, 2 stations), (Habitat, 2 cabins), (Fuel Tank, 5 dT used for liquid cargoes)
• [3] Sensor Array (Science)/8
• [4-6] Cargo, 45 dT, shielded from scanner
• Central Hull
• [1] Armor, Organic (dDR3)
• [2-3] Turbine
• [4] SM5 Main Battery, 1X10cm Gauss, 70 shots, concealed as a water refinenement system.
• [5-6] Cargo, 30 dT
• [core] Fusion reactor [!!]
• Rear Hull
• [1] Armor, Organic (dDR3)
• [2-4] Cargo, 45 dT
• [5] External Clamp
• [6] Hangar bay, 10 dT, Include 2X recon buzzbot

This cybershell is pressurized with vat-grown cetacean hide so as to keep cargo dry down to 50m, which makes it suitable for continental shelf operations to the sea floor. Its submersed top/cruise speed is 25kts/15kts. The hangar bay door is standardized to fit medium-sized underwater docks.

The Control room has the same template as a virtual interface implant with a small computer.

Pfan 3 - Machine learning

This post tells the story from the perspective of the non-sapiens (NAI) named Vittorio. Vittorio is an automaton with a hard-coded impulse to optimize. Vittorio cannot explain why it ought to be this way: it just is. Vittorio works as a v-tag manager assistant, refining his skills in Current Affairs(social). I'm giving Vittorio a voice as it is capable of verbalizing using natural language.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do.

Pfan 2 - The inherent cost of fame

This story is involves a GMPC called Ephiphany Santini. She is working a job as a virtual tag manager in the entertainment sector while trying to break into the memeticist market. A colleague of hers got shot recently, and her employer has cautioned all v-tag managers to be on the lookout for danger. She intends to fight back.

Pfan Santini, aspiring memeticist

Pfan 1 - Cyberstalkers on St-Denis St.

This story is involves a GMPC called Ephiphany Santini. She is a low powered character that I hope will bootstrap herself out of obscurity. She is also an excuse to think more about the Transhuman Space universe in an easier to grok character. The game follows a sandbox model, with some procedural tables that I designed for character generation for Traveller, and using Tarot cards to generate plot twists.

Pfan Santini, aspiring memeticist

Epiphanie Santini

Epiphanie "Pfan" Santini, loose canon [30]

Genefixed human, Montreal, Terra. 18 y.o.

Attributes [-10] - ST 8 [-20]; IQ 12 [20]; DX 10; HT 9 [-10], Per 12; Will 12; HP 8; FP 9 Features [5] - Charisma I [5]; Standing [-10] - Status 1 [5], Poor [-15]; Culture [6] - English (N/N) [0]; French (N/A) [5]; Western familiarities [1] Lifestyle [0] - Cost of living 7.2KCr/Mo @ Status 0; Assets 4.8KCr; Cash 11.14KCr; Income (v-tag manager) $23.4K/Mo;

Skills [17] - Inter-personal: Fast-Talk-12 [2]; Professional: Psychology(applied)-10 [1]; Expert skill(Memetics)-11 [2]; streetwise-11 [1]; computer operation/TL10-14 [4]; Other: stealth-10 [2]; writing-13 [4]; Research-11 [1]; Area Knowledge (Montreal)-12 [1]; Current-affairs(social)-12 [1];

Allies [40] - Vittorio, NAI: IQ8; computer operation/TL10-11; Current-Affairs(social)-9 [2]; Observation-7 [1]; Intelligence Analysis-6 [1]; Complexity/4;

Patron [10] - Parents (150%, CR9) [10]

Enemy [-2] - Sebastian, cyberstalking murderer; power: 50%; CR 6; hunter;

reputation ("entertainment manager") - +1; Small group (social influencers); CR9 [1]

cybershell (buzzbot) - tiny computer (Complexity/5);
Virtual Interface Implant - tiny computer (Complexity/5, 1Pb), 1AA cell (½ h). Software: Mugshot/4, social telepresence/4, virtual tutor/3, augmented reality/4

Gears

* Small Computer - Complexity/6, 0.5lb, $100 [Meme Engine (Complexity/5), ParadigmMaker (Complexity/6)]

Spaceships battle - Autonomous Kill Vehicle raid on a tanker

Just ran a GURPS 4E spaceship test combat. I didn't rig the dice: but the outcome to such combat tend to be decisive, brief, and scary.  This combat ends with a critical hit: not a great sample combat. Sometimes, dice just don't cooperate.

Endosymbiont: Configuration guide to your virtual interface implant

Virtual Interface Implants (VII) are brain implants that interface bio-based life with cybernetics. They are used for connectivity to networks and as computing platform. More often, the bulk of their computing cycles is allocated to an AI. Biological life can become highly dependent to the embedded AI, while the AI retains mobility. It is thus best to keep the AI from gaining too much free will.

The Web as a GURPS contact

I've been grappling with the fact that anyone with a link to the web has essentially a depth of knowledge that cannot compare to offline people. Here is how I think the Web can be modelled in GURPS.

Edwin 1 - Fifth-wave living

Introductions

Edwin chose to live in Nairobi because of football. Not that weblife play isn't a great deal of fun, but Ed likes the smell and taste of dust that no simulation can do justice to. Beside, the energy and friendship that he made playing outside the gates have this old-world charm that he highly prizes.

Ed owns a flat in a compound built for in-situ workers for the Olympus project. His job is not in-situ: which makes him one of the few who chose and enjoy living in the South African Coalition (SAC). A life support engineer, he got an entry-level job as nanotube engineer for Talon-West, an industrial nanotech contractor. For his job, he teleoperates a cybershell while his LAI, named Maus, teleoperates a nanotube extruder. The team of two works out great. Ed gets a bonus pay for being a team of two, his LAI doesn't get any remuneration and doesn't seem to care.

Maus is his low-sapient AI (LAI), the is housed primarily in his Virtual Interface Implant (VII). He paid dear money for it as Talon-West would cover only for a telecom interface. Maus has shown little interest in Ed’s life: the pairs rarely interact off hours. Ed assumes that Maus is having an active weblife, but the two rarely talk about it. Ed was hoping that he would find companionship when he purchased a LAI, no dice.

Whooshing through the real world

Edwin fell asleep in a smoky hut in Gaul and woke gently in a sanitized flat in Nairobi. He has sank a few hundred credits into some real estate in historical Gaul about two years ago. Most of his off time was spent over there, tending the farm, going to the market and spending time with his spouse. In virtual Gaul, he was married to Pretoria9, an avatar for a 79 year old man from Tunisia. The two had communicated in the "real world", but there was no sparks. In Gaul, the Romans have come and nearly gone. He finds interesting to live outside the gates: almost a mirror image of his non-weblife. The experience is making him more empathic to the folks living outside of what he considers normal living in 2100. While in Gaul or in sub-orbital space, his flat takes care of itself.

His virtual feast left him feeling full, but he had skipped a real-world meal once more. Maus, and infomorph living in his virtual interface implant, pinged into awareness. The pair were scheduled to be at the edge of space in 15 minutes: the coffee was ready and the pre-fab breakfast on its way. Ed really wished that he had a butler to prepare real food. He scanned the room, everywhere he looked, Maus popped notifications directly into his vision field. Most of it were approvals on the microtransaction ledger. Ed whispered for Maus to hear that he delegated approval for everything for as long as there was funds into the household account. Maus, taken aback by the request, started scraping the web for household accounting assistants. Maus resented the new duty, but figured out that it would at most shave a few second off his daily cycles. With his new authority, he approved the purchase of a software agent for household management. This brought to him great pride and shaved off 100Cr from Ed’s household account.

Maus

Maus, Engineering agent [151]

Low-sapien Artificial Intelligence (LAI), General Dynamics, Terra

Attributes [-20] - IQ 9; DX 10;

Features [142] - AI [32]; Enhanced Time Sense [45]; Extra Life(Copy, -20%; Requires Body, -20%) [15]; Fearlessness 2 [4]; Possession (Digital, -40%) [60]; Unaging (IQ only, -75%) [4]; Visualization (Reliable, +4, +20%) [12]; Hidebound [-5]; Honesty (9) [-15]; Low Empathy [-20]; Complexity/6; Modular Abilities (Computer Brain) 5
Modular Abilities (Computer Brain ) 5 [38] - Eidetic Memory (5cp) + 3cp Skills (Research/3(2cp), Admin/3(2cp), or Psychology/5(8cp));

Standing [-35] - dead broke [-25]; Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10]

Culture [0] - English (N/N) [0];

Skills [26] - Professional: Administration-8 [1]; Engineer(mechanical/TL10)-10 [2]; freefall-10 [4]; vacc suit-12 [4]; mechanics/TL10-12 [16]; Computer Operation/TL10-12 [8]

Edwin Chiang

Edwin Chiang, life-support engineer [133]

Alpha Upgrade human, Nairobi, Kenya, Terra.

Attributes [30] - ST 10; IQ 10; DX 11 [20]; HT 11 [10], Per 10; Will 10; HP 10; FP 10

Features [11] - Attractive [4]; Resistance to disease 8 [5]; Longevity [2]

Standing [25] - Status 1 [5], wealthy [20]; Rank 1 (corporate) [5]

Culture [4] - English (N/N) [0]; Chinese (A/-) [2]; Western and Oriental familiarities [2]

Lifestyle [0] - Cost of living 9.6KCr/Mo; Assets 120KCr; Cash 23.5KCr; job Engineer,  20KCr/Mo (20h/wk, CR9) [0]

Skills [18] - Inter-personal: savoir-faire(corporate)-11 [2]; Professional: Administration-9 [1]; Engineer(mechanical/TL10)-12 [4]; freefall-10 [1]; vacc suit-12 [4]; Pilot(low performance spacescraft)-11 [2]; Other: swimming-12 [2]; sport(football)-11 [2];
Allies [40 ] - Maus (LAI);
Virtual Interface Implant - Compact, small computer (Complexity/6, 1Pb), 1AA cell (½ h). Software: Administration/5 (good +1), Engineering/5 (good +1), Mugshot/4, social telepresence/4, virtual tutor/3, augmented reality/4