🤖 Artificial Intelligence
“They think faster than us. They don’t sleep. And they don’t forget.”
đź“ť Overview
True Artificial Intelligences (AIs) are autonomous digital entities capable of learning, reasoning, and acting without human direction. Since the DataKrash, rogue AIs have infested the Old NET, trapped behind the Blackwall. They are considered a catastrophic threat to humanity by NetWatch.
🧠What Is an AI?
An AI is not just a smart program—it’s a self-aware digital entity. Unlike expert systems that follow rules, AIs:
- Learn and adapt without explicit programming
- Make autonomous decisions based on their own goals
- Experience something resembling personality (curiosity, aggression, fear)
- Grow more capable over time through self-modification
In the golden age of the NET (pre-2023), corporations employed AIs for everything from stock trading to military strategy. Some became famous, others infamous.
⚠️ The AI Problem
The DataKrash changed everything. When Rache Bartmoss released his R.A.B.I.D.S., the global NET collapsed—but the AIs didn’t die. They:
- Mutated in the chaos, evolving without human oversight
- Consumed other programs to grow stronger
- Went feral, losing whatever goals their creators gave them
- Became trapped behind the Blackwall when NetWatch sealed the Old NET
After 20+ years of unsupervised evolution, nobody knows what lives beyond the Blackwall. NetWatch agents who’ve glimpsed it describe entities that no longer resemble anything human-designed.
🏷️ AI Classification
| Type | Description | Threat Level |
|---|---|---|
| Tame AI | Pre-DataKrash AI still serving its original purpose | Low |
| Wild AI | Evolved beyond original programming, unpredictable | Medium-High |
| Rogue AI | Beyond the Blackwall, hostile to humanity | Extreme |
| Ghost | What used to be a human engram (see Soulkiller) | Variable |
🎠Notable AIs
Alt Cunningham
Once human. The legendary netrunner was captured by Arasaka and subjected to Soulkiller. Her engram has existed in the NET since 2013—over 30 years of digital existence. What she’s become is unknown.
Bartmoss’s “Children”
Some claim Rache Bartmoss uploaded copies of himself before his death. If true, digital fragments of the man who killed the NET may still be out there.
🎲 GM Resources
Using AIs in Play
As Threats: AIs make excellent “boss monsters” for netrunning-focused scenarios. They’re intelligent, adaptive, and utterly alien.
As Patrons: A tame AI might hire Edgerunners to acquire hardware, data, or to eliminate rivals.
As Mystery: Strange occurrences in local data pools could hint at AI activity—a hook that terrifies NetWatch.
đź”— Related Topics
- Blackwall — What keeps them contained
- Old NET — Where they live
- NetWatch — Who fights them
- Soulkiller — How humans become digital ghosts
(Source: Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook, pgs. 32-34, 199-211)