#its still a very powerful and intelligent AI

[chubbidust]

smollusk grows up

[thatbugkidd]

The murder drones x hollow knight au... its rotting my brain

For a little context and lore for the au let me dig up some stuff i wrote a bit ago

Alright, Cyn is a moth. Which, slight spoilers? But in game, they're generally seen as peace keepers and a nonviolent tribe. Cyn resides in the Aurelian Line palace (Aurelian literally means golden, and is often related to butterflies. The elliots are butterflies hehehe) as a maid. The palace is a grand, magnificent castle that traverses deep underground, going through several regions. It is golden, shimmering in the faint light that makes its way down below.

Humans have been long extinct, forcing their own downfall with their technological advancements, effectively killing themselves off in a war that couldn't be won. The bugs of the kingdom speak of ancient giants who used to be able to harness these powers and fell below the earth because of it.

Remnants of this technology still exist, though due to the track record, it was strictly forbidden to be interacted with and was sealed away.

It was so well kept, many considered it simply a legend, a myth and nothing more.

That is, until the Aurelian line rediscovers it. Believing they can use its power and harness it themselves, they begin meddling with the technology. Obviously, this eventually backfires lol.

The most esteemed intelligence of the palace couldn't figure out how to operate anything. It was constant trial and error. Tessa, the heir to the Aurelian palace, has a passion for science and all things technological. She has the idea to test the technology's reaction with organic material. She decides to use lifeseeds to experiment on.

Late one night in secret, Tessa sneaks out of quarters and into the dark chambers below where the technology is stored.

The initial reaction is.. bad! Or good, depending on how you look at it. It starts off as an aggressive burst of energy, the lifeseeds quickly growing corrupted as it fuses wickedly with the technology, filling the area with a viscous substance in seconds. This traps tessa in a cocoon of sorts.

The technology ends up "attatching" itself to the lifeseeds, and in turn, also all of the lifeblood. Essentially traveling as a consciousness through the root systems.

Now basically being a sort of AI, with no "OS" or vessel to operate on, it quickly surges out in the form of little corrupted lifeseeds, looking for a potential host. And of course a certain bright eyed moth is attracted to the light. To the promise of safety and power. The promise of a changed, better world. Where everyone is connected, everything is in order, everything is one.

In a matter of days, everything wickedly changes. What once was a gorgeous, lively golden castle, is now cloaked in darkness, the only light being the harsh blue glare of screens, pulsating wires and roots strewing throughout the place.

Obviously this is all very rough, its basically evil AI takeover fused with biological elements so... biomech horror >:] but bugs

Ty to @thatoneguyrumble for the idea with the lifeblood >:3 very very cool

[frostgears]

artifact

it was a routine survey stop until the neutrino background occlusion sensors showed something dense and geometric, buried shallowly in one of the planet’s least interesting mountain ranges. a First Expansion artifact. had to be. this system wasn’t in the databases except as an ID number, but the ancients must have done some wildcat exploration, right? they were people, not so different in range from the saints and scammers of today. except that their tech made anything you had look like toys.

the captain was the first to put boots on the ground. she said a perfunctory little speech, the records officer took a picture for the video wall, and then you all did what you came here for: excavation. hand-sized mu-cat fusion charges scythed the top of the ridge off, one of the more reproducible First Expansion technologies, clean and cheap. then it was earthmovers and jackhammers. a slog, but nobody complained. nobody wanted to risk damaging it.

slowly, a truncated tetrahedron emerged from the shattered sandstone, some kind of transport container, a type also not in the databases. it had been here a very long time to be buried so thoroughly in sediment turned to rock. excitement reverberated through the crew. survey work was for the good of all mankind, but all mankind rarely showed gratitude for confirming that a large round rock was still there. this could be it, the big score.

you were the one who cracked the last veneer of sandstone off the bronze-ish surface of the tetrahedron, worked out where to put the power cables for the hatch (at least the ancients didn’t mess around with their standards much). but the captain insisted on being the one who pressed the button. the triangular hatch folded forward to the ground, forming a ramp.

when the small shape walked down it, everybody tensed up. hands went to hips, those that weren’t already holding sidearms. the ship itself was in a long-dwell-time orbit, near overhead this spot, and you could practically feel the targeting radars for heavier weapons on the back of your neck. but the thing didn’t look particularly threatening. it looked like a little person, with exaggerated proportions.

was it a toy? had you spent the last week digging up a toy? but a toy with an independent power source that apparently hadn’t needed to be topped off since the Collapse was still worth something.

until it spoke. intelligibly.

“that was a dirty trick for Miss to play.”

the captain, caught on the wrong foot, said, “i’m sorry?”

“you needn’t be. i require only your assistance in catching up to Her. She does love Her tricks, but i should be by Her side.”

something flashed across your ocular implants. tac channel directives from the captain:

old AIs can get very single-minded. ready EM scrambler needle pulse on my mark.

“you flatter me, but i’m not that fancy. i’m just a simple doll. but you have a ship.”

“i’m sure we can work something out, in exchange for—”

you saw it move only as a blur.

it was up to the captain’s neck, but the captain’s head wasn’t on it any more. a long triangular blade glittered in one of its small hands. the other held the captain’s armored cortical recorder.

“my apologies. that wasn’t a question.”

it popped the molecular database implant backing up the captain’s mind and soul into its mouth, and chewed with some apparent relish. the body slumped slowly to the debris-strewn ground under it.

“now i have a ship. does anyone want to help me drive it? i’m afraid i’m some… eight thousand? years out of practice, and Miss preferred to do Her own piloting anyway.”

there was a flurry of small arms fire. it didn’t help. the particle beams on the ship should have discharged but didn’t, a fact you were grateful for, at least initially. you stayed your own trigger finger on some impulse you couldn’t explain. it saved your life. sort of.

you’ve been in the pilot’s interface chair for forty-seven hours now, the little nightmare holding the knife to your neck the entire time. the few other survivors are in no shape to mount a rescue, not from inside an automed casket. the “doll” seems quite certain that its “Miss” is still alive somewhere. you don’t know how long you’ll be able to say the same. □

originally published 2022-11-10 on Fedi.

[nostalgebraist]

So, about this new "AI 2027" report...

I have not read the whole thing in detail, but my immediate reaction is kind of like what I said about "Bio Anchors" a while back.

Like Bio Anchors – and like a lot of OpenPhil reports for that matter – the AI 2027 report is mainly a very complex estimation exercise.

It takes a certain way of modeling things as a given, and then does a huge amount of legwork to fill in the many numeric constants in an elaborate model of that kind, with questions like "is this actually a reasonable model?" and "what are the load-bearing assumptions here?" covered as a sort of afterthought.

For instance, the report predicts a type of automated R&D feedback loop often referred to a "software intelligence explosion" or a "software-only singularity." There has been a lot of debate over the plausibility of this idea – see Eth and Davidson here for the "plausible" case, and Erdil and Barnett here for the "implausible" case, which in turn got a response from Davidson here. That's just a sampling of very recent entries in this debate, there's plenty more where that came from.

Notably, I don't think "AI 2027" is attempting to participate in this debate. It contains a brief "Addressing Common Objections" section at the end of the relevant appendix, but it's very clear (among other things, simply from the relative quantity of text spent on one thing versus another) that the "AI 2027" authors are not really trying to change the minds of "software intelligence explosion" skeptics. That's not the point of their work – the point is making all these detailed estimates about what such a thing would involve, if indeed it happens.

And the same holds for the rest of their (many) modeling assumptions. They're not trying to convince you about the model, they're just estimating its parameters.

But, as with Bio Anchors, the load-bearing modeling assumptions get you most of the way to the conclusion. So, despite the name, "AI 2027" isn't really trying to convince you that super-powerful AI is coming within the decade.

If you don't already expect that, you're not going to get much value out of these fiddly estimation details, because (under your view) there are still-unresolved questions – like "is a software intelligence explosion plausible?" – whose answers have dramatically more leverage over your expectations than facts like "one of the parameters in one of the sub-sub-compartments of their model is lognormally distributed with 80% CI 0.3 to 7.5."

---

Maybe this is obvious, I dunno? I've just seen some reactions where people express confusion because the whole picture seems unconvincing and under-motivated to them, and I guess I'm trying to explain what I think is going on.

And I'm also worried – as always with this stuff – that there are some people who will look at all those pages and pages of fancy numbers, and think "wow! this sounds crazy but I can't argue with Serious Expert Research™," and end up getting convinced even though the document isn't really trying to convince them in the first place.

---

Now, if you do buy all the assumptions of the model, then yes, I guess this seems like a valuable exercise. If you are literally Daniel Kokotajlo, and hence believe in all the kind of stuff that Daniel Kokotajlo believes, then it makes sense to do all this legwork to "draw in the fine details" of that high-level view. And yeah, if you think the End Times are probably coming in a few years (but you might be able to do something about that at the margins), then you probably do want to get very precise about exactly how much time you have left, and when it will become too late for this or that avenue for change.

(Note that while I don't agree with him about this stuff, I do respect Kokotajlo a lot! I mean, you gotta hand it to him... not only did he predict what we now call the "Gen AI boom" with eerie accuracy way back in 2021, he was also a whistleblower who refused to sign OpenAI's absurd you-can't-talk-about-the-fact-that-you-can't-talk-about-it non-disparagement agreement, thereby bringing it into public view at last.)

But, in short, this report doesn't really touch on the reasons I disagree with short timelines. It doesn't really engage with my main objections, nor is it trying to do so. If you don't already expect "AI" in "2027" then "AI 2027" is not going to change your view.

[communist-hatsunemiku]

This research paper is actually very interesting and has a pretty good methodology for gauging how LLMs impact education as it exists, and it actually kind of makes me want to start using chatgpt for certain things.

and also, i need to think about this a little more but this research seems like it was designed to make LLMs look bad. like, i dont have the energy to get super into it right now, but it just seems like the essay prompts and the metrics used just kind of....skew the conclusions...idk. if anything this paper confirms something I already knew which is: chatgpt has its uses and is a very powerful tool which people are still figuring out how best to apply. It is not a substitute for critical thinking or applying knowledge, which like yeah.

This paper does NOT indicate there is anything inherently damaging about ai to a persons cognition or intelligence

[remyrockstheworld]

If you dont reblog anything else i post, reblog THIS.

hey. hey you. yeah i see you. gettin all fucking excited because elon is rebuking trump and joining the left and now we have a powerful ally.

NO.

NOOOO.

HELL NO.

we don't want him. We do not want a man who is grifting because his big orange yaoi boyfriend broke up with him.

I'm gonna remind you why. look its a list, remember thisssss?:

He publicly misgenders and deadnames his daughter and disowned her. He insulted her publicly. HE PUBLICLY SAID THAT IF HE DIDN'T HAVE A SON HE DIDN'T HAVE A KID.

He is a total deadbeat dad on that note.

Musk's Ai uses enough water with just a hello for it to be concerning ON A PLANET THAT IS MOSTLY WATER.

Tesla was under fire because their workplace enviroment in every factory was violently racist; in some, POCs were literally isolated from everyone else and faced paycuts and layoffs and such.

He supports the removal of DEI.

He very publicly believes that drag queens, schools, and queer people are forcing their agenda on children.

He wildly mismanages his company

HE HAS SUPPORTED TRUMP, HIS POLICIES, AND HIS AGENDAS UP UNTIL NOW.

HE STOOD PROUDLY NEXT TO TRUMP IN THE OFFICE AS TRUMP SENT ICE AGENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

He benefits from the big beautiful bill, and will be spending the money he keeps from it on himself and other assorted unhelpful bullshit.

he's not down here protesting, fighting, and spreading awareness with us people who actually care. he's sitting on his high horse grifting behind a fucking screen.

HE DID THE NAZI SALUTE ON LIVE TV AND ALLOWED EVERYONE TO BLAME IT ON AUTISM. That hurt the jewish community AND the ND community

so remember that when you start begging him to join the left, saying you're glad he has. He doesn't actually support a single policy the politically intelligent left cares about.

We've been saying fuck musk, fuck muskrat.

Keep that fuckin' energy, y'all. Don't let everyone forget what he did.

Just because Musk says fuck Trump doesn't mean its not still fuck Musk.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil’s AI-powered social security app is wrongly rejecting claims

When Josélia de Brito, a former sugarcane worker from a remote town in northeast Brazil, filed for her retirement benefits through the mandated government app, she expected her claim would be processed quickly. Instead, her request was instantly turned down because the system identified her as a man.

It was especially frustrating for de Brito, who had been requesting sick pay for years via the National Social Security Institute’s artificial intelligence-powered app, Meu INSS. De Brito had worked in the fields since she was a teenager, and suffered from a herniated disc, scoliosis, and fibromyalgia — chronic illnesses that made her eligible for social benefits. But even minor errors in her claims filed through the app had led to numerous rejections, with few options for recourse.

“I have all the documents proving my health condition, proving everything, and [the benefit] still gets denied. It’s a humiliation,” de Brito, 55, who is illiterate and had to ask her daughter to file the claims, told Rest of World. It’s very hard on rural workers, in particular, who “have worked for so much time,” she said.

Brazil’s social security institute, known as INSS, added AI to its app in 2018 in an effort to cut red tape and speed up claims. The office, known for its long lines and wait times, had around 2 million pending requests for everything from doctor’s appointments to sick pay to pensions to retirement benefits at the time. While the AI-powered tool has since helped process thousands of basic claims, it has also rejected requests from hundreds of people like de Brito — who live in remote areas and have little digital literacy — for minor errors.

Continue reading.

[darkopsiian]

Do you like warhammer 40k?

yes. look at my OC's. tw // mentions of body horror and abuse //

i should probably mention as well; i've roleplayed all these characters lol.

This is Nockzius she's my tech priest oc who's a 20 year old biologis prodigy who has worked on Astartes, Xenos, and reversed dissected several daemons. She's a diagnosed psychopath but currently in an emotional down-spiral, because she found out that since she's a blank the Omnissiah cannot hear her. She's been beaten, betrayed, backstabbed and manipulated so many times. So because of this and several other instances of parental neglect from her father, she's completely engulfed in her own hatred and ravenous anger. Nockzius has gotten so close to insanity many times and I'm not surprised she hasn't completely lost it yet due to all the stress that she has to put up with.

This is Heilgard, she is my sister of silence. She was a training SoS during the Remembrancer program back in the 29th Millennium. During the program they had been attacked by a creature later discovered to be a slaugth, towards the very end of the campaign she had sacrificed her own life to fight and later spiritually consume the minor deity. Later on rejected taking the oath of silence as upon discovering the origins of the Slaugth she had assisted in forming a group of members who's sole purpose was to study the Warp. They are an outcasted group and would be considered heretics by law. Her blank radius is so powerful that she purposefully isolates herself in attempts to protect others from getting their soul annihilated just by being around her. Cats however are safe, and thus she surrounds herself with many of them. She is also my only character who canonically has autism.

This is the P.A., or the Pantheon as it calls itself. The Pantheon was a Super AI that used to operate an entire forge of a planet that made and sold thermo-weapons to nearby Noble Houses. But the planet later collapsed and became swarmed with techno barbarians, xenos, and rabid AI drones. The P.A. became dislodged from it's mainframe and had integrated itself into one of its many worker drones. This worker drone, carrying the consciousness of the Pantheon, had found and integrated itself into the body of a traveling noble named Alicia. The P.A. now wearing the flesh body of Alicia travels with a band of techno barbarians and attempting to sway them into getting her old body back. Alicia's body has long expired but her soul hasn't departed, so it's not uncommon for the voice box to occasionally malfunction and start talking like a human.

This is Oylmortiz my Mephirit Deathmark. Oyl had a severe irreversible malfunction during her transfusion, so regardless of how many times she dies and comes back, she can never speak. Her voice is permanently broken and she communicates primary through static chatter or beeping. Thankfully due to her job exclusively being a hitman, talking isn't that important. Her personal deathmark brothers have gotten very used to this and are able to understand her just fine. She is very loyal to her house and just wants to do her job. Despite all this she has the highest charisma stat out of all of my characters, I don't know how this happened. But the mute necron deathmark has the highest fellowship and it's the best ongoing joke I've had.

This is Hollowtye he's a BITCH. This mother fucking lord of CRINGE has decided halloween is his birthday and now it just IS. He's a greater daemon of hysteria and feeds off wide-spread chaos, which is why he enjoys halloween so much. But he's a fucking IDIOT. He has the highest intelligence score sure but that doesn't mean ANYTHING, HE'S A FUCKING IDIOT LMAO. He is NEVER invited to any Tzeentchian parties because they all despise him. He's a clown who fucks up the smallest plan yet somehow still comes out the winner, which is why tzeentch loves him so much but why everyone else hates him.

T̷͙̳͛͜h̷̠͂̊̚͜ǐ̸̥̬̼̫̿̓s̷͉̙̱̣̓̌̎ ̷̢͔͙̘͔̅̔͑̐ǐ̶͍͎̓s̷̗̐ ̶̺̥̊R̸̲̀̄̂͗̆͜ĕ̴͚́h̷̦̺̼̙̜́v̸̖̠͙̇͊̊̚ë̸̢̞̱̟̠́̅̒͐̅n̶͕͔̗͚͋͂̽i̸̝̰̝̇̓̓̈͜r̶̘̽̊̾̓́ ̸̳̹̪̽͘T̵͕̻̘͇̦́͂̑͝͝ȟ̴̝͍̙̬̭͘i̸̥͎̫̖͗̅͘s̸͍̻̙̯̺̃̐̇̀̾ ̶̮̺̤̻̖͛͌i̸̩͝s̵̺̀̉͜ ̷̨̹͇͆̃́͘̕W̸͚͉̬̱͋̅͊̍̂h̷͕̓̀i̵̬̩͍͛̔̚t̶̻̂̅͛̊e̴͈̳̿̕̕͠b̷͕͛̅a̴̦̜͐͒͋͘͘ȑ̸̰̱̜̜̪͒͋̑k̴̛̟̓̃͒͝ ̵̧̙̪̲̣̐͛͋͘T̶̪̳̟̎͐͜h̸̡̝̺̰̖͗̈́̑́i̷̠̯̱͓͊̋́̓̒s̵̰͈̃͌ ̵̧̈́͊͆͝į̷̟̺͇̘̀̿̆̈́͛s̵̻͛͒͛̆ ̴̧͍̰̃̆̍͘ͅT̸̞͈̪͇̓͜͝h̸̩͔̗̖͕͐̓͑͊ė̵̞̗͙͊́͝ ̷͖̤̎͜Ŗ̸̹͔̝̘̓ì̸̜͍̿ͅv̵̧̞͚̉͌e̶̝͆̐͂̑r̴̘͇̬̭͐̐̋m̴͈̜̮̅ā̷̩̖̺͝n̴͙͓̈́͂ ̵̪̍͜T̸̛̜̹̲̬̋͆̓̅h̷̹̔͌̕͜i̸̹̚s̴̺̼̰͠ ̵̢̥̠͉̖̏̾̓i̵̛̬̱̱͉̘̋s̷̯̟̙̋̈́͜ ̴̛͎͙̈̆T̶̘̮̹̦̹̓̈́h̸̩̭͇͚̑̂e̸̝͉̠̝̓ ̴̝̅͒̔̆B̵̮̼͚̉̐̄́é̷̡̨̤̩̃͗͆ã̶͇͍̈͘s̸̘͗̿ͅt̸̙̺͌͐̐̂̌ ̷̫̺͆͆̈͐́o̵̜̝̠̅f̵̢̧̠̲͉̀̇̈́̈̋ ̶̯̒́̏̈́͝ͅM̸͈̘͔̖̗̆̀̕ḛ̶͔͓̩͑̀r̸͚̈́̂̈́̄͜ć̶̠͙̜̿́͆̇ũ̴̜͇̌r̶̡̖̹̓̍̌̊y̶̼̖͝͝ ̸̡͍̤̐̚͘ṫ̷̛̟̭̘̄̽̈h̵͕͔͛̎e̵̗̤̗̍ͅ ̴̬̳̗̫͍̑v̴̯̘̝̫͊͋̾��o̷͔͍̩͓͋̐͠i̶̪̤̕c̶͎̹͔̯̚e̶̠͖̅̄̕ş̷̔ ̷̫͑́̅̐͘t̴͚̯̍̋͗̍̉h̵̗̗̗͉̍͜e̶̛͕̩̱̎̈́̒̚y̸̥̹̳͆ ̶͚͂̀̈̒ẅ̵̪̗́̀̓̔̈́o̵̳͈̫͊́̓̄̚n̴̝̻͇̑̄͂͝͠'̸̧̾͋̆ț̸̈̓̓͘̕ ̷̛̫̬̃͘š̵̭̽̑t̵͎̻͙͙͉̅́̈́͐͝ŏ̷̜̎̚p̸̝̰̿̃̆͐̀

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

Any fic recs where Stiles is like a badass Navy SEAL or ex-Marine or some kind of sniper. I'm craving badass military/Stiles. Preferably Sterek but doesn't have to be. Thanks!

Yeah!

I'll make an alpha out of you by ElisAttack

(2/3 I 6,873 I Mature I Sterek)

"Did they send me omegas, when I asked for men!" Peter Hale shouts.

Stiles clenches his fists in anger. The scar tissue along his side where he burnt away his omega mark itches. Stiles may be pretending to be an alpha, but he knows deep down what he really is. Once an omega, always an omega.

Or the one where Stiles takes his father's place in a war he doesn't believe in.

they never tell you that bullets bite back by snickiebear

(1/1 I 7,442 I Mature)

When he’s pinned down and the light at the end of the tunnel flickers, he thinks about his Dad, about Derek, and about his goddaughter he’ll probably never get to meet.

He survives every time. Still hasn’t met her. She’s seven now.

or, stiles leaves and finds a new war to fight

bone deep by localsharkbait (nemonight)

(1/1 I 9,153 I Not Rated)

Stiles really could not have known that joining the military would have lead to him meeting Iron Man and getting a boyfriend.

Staring into the muzzle blast by ElisAttack

(2/3 I 13,586 I Mature)

"The hairs rise on the back of Stiles' neck when he glances out the porthole and gets a real close look at the asteroid’s surface. It’s covered in cable lines and electronics, too small and sparse to be seen from anywhere but the surface. They flow towards a series of boulders and what appears to be a heavyweight airlock. Someone built a base here and nobody knew about it. Not Earth, not Mars, not the Belt.

Stiles grips his rifle tighter."

Or the one where Stiles is an Earther marine, sent to the Belt to help investigate a distress beacon. What he finds brings to light a conspiracy that has the power to shake the Solar System to its very core, and change everything he’s ever known.

Specialized Technical Intelligence and Logistics for Earth and Space (S.T.I.L.E.S) by Yiichi

(10/10 I 73,419 I Not Rated I Sterek)

“What the hell kind of a name is Stiles?” he asked.

“You know, a series of sounds spoken in a particular sequence that represent my identity, primarily, referring to me?“ the AI – Stiles – answered cheekily, crossing his own arms in front of his chest, mirroring Derek’s position.

“Ooh, this one’s feisty,” Peter smirked.

[aviator-at-heart]

Chaos, Confessions, and Counterparts - PART ONE

DESCRIPTION: a top gun x mission impossible crossover, top gun perspective, set post-final-reckoning

(sort of?) a hangman study

focuses more on top gun (especially sereshaw) than mission impossible 

~

“Morning, Bradshaw.”

“Good morning, Hangman.”, Bradley answered, meeting Jake in the rec room. He grabbed the coffee pot and poured some into his mug Mav had given him. To everyone really. It was a customized mug he got, everyone else got one too.

“Who made this?”, Bradley asked Jake, who was sitting on the rec room couch. Jake looked at him in confusion until he saw Bradley hold up the coffee pot.“oh. Not me”, Jake answered, sipping his herbal tea he had switched to. No one really knew why.

“It was Bob”, Natasha yawned, entering. He was always waking up early now, so it made sense and no one asked questions.

It was a Saturday. A normal Saturday. Well, not actually normal. The daggers were in Fightertown. They were there because of the rouge ai of some sort that was a cyber weapon for the government. The last few months had been intense. Nuclear arsenals of every country were being lost to the ai. The news wasn’t trustable anymore, except for this channel the navy had. there was nothing anyone could do. At least, that what everyone thought. There had been world of this “nameless” man (or team?) working tirelessly to remove its existence. How did the daggers know this? They eavesdropped Ice’s conversations, obviously. He technically adopted them when Mav did…

Everyone slowly started waking up and coming into the rec room. There was some chatter. “Wait, guys, look at this.”, Jake said, turning everyone’s attention to the tv. He turned up the volume for everyone to hear. “This just in, the world has been saved from this so-called Entity, the artificial intelligence that had the power to infiltrate systems, manipulate information, and potentially predict future events. The Entity was a significant threat due to its ability to control global networks and control the perception of truth. This Entity was destroyed by American agents who, for the last few months, had been working towards defeating this. We have no more information on the Entity, as this incident is classified and will most likely be recorded by governments all around the world. Back to you, Amy”, the reporter said. Everyone cheered. They could finally go back to how the world normally was. The sky looked a little clearer.

Just then, Iceman and Maverick came in, already dressed. “Morning, Mav. Morning, Ice.”, everyone who was in the room collectively said. “Are you guys going on a trip?” Bradley asked. He knew those clothes were the ones they wore when traveling commercially. Ice and Mav looked at each other. They had been caught. “We-we’re taking a trip.”, Mav said. “What!?”, “Unfair!”, and “Can we go?”’s filled the room. Ice and Mav looked at each other again. “We got the tickets yesterday, and there’s still a lot of tickets left. But we aren’t buying them.”, Ice reluctantly said. So all the daggers clamored to the table where Bob had his laptop open. So, after a few hours of packing, booking rooms at resorts, and buying plane tickets, they were on their way to the airport.

It was fine in the airport. All the tickets were bought in time. They bought some overpriced snacks. Other than that, no complications… except for the fact that they almost didn’t make it onto their flight.

~

it wasn’t working to paste the entire fic from my notes onto here so I’m doing it in multiple parts. I hope you liked it! tips are very helpful (it’s one of my first fics). also said I’d tag @universallymoonwitch because they were looking for a top gun and mission impossible crossover, so i hope it was good :)

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six

[rudnitskaia]

About the world of l𖦹g.OS and some info on the characters which I showed a bit earlier. Perceive these notes as the compilation of concepts for the game that are constantly meticulously brewing in my head since 2023.

bonus: one of the sketches of Bell in her almost current design

MANY-LETTERS-UNDER-THE-CUT-ALERT. I WARNED YOU. MANY!

-----💀-----

THE ANNOTATION

The world of Umbra — the thriving land of dead. Any newcomer is welcomed and can find a place to stay at the Nine Islands. And those who have enough courage may try to take a journey to prove that they're worth of revival in the Land of the Living, known as Beyond.

At least it was like that before Umbra started to fall apart.

Things mix their places. People forget things. Even simple tasks could become not accomplishable. Everything is going out of order... spiraling out of control.

In the middle of all this stays Bell — the only Tuner left in Umbra who tries her best to maintain the ruining land of dead, completely alone. Every time the alarm system in her house — which also is simultaneously the Tuners' base, — rings, signaling about new problems, Bell gets up, takes her tuning fork and goes to find and fix broken things and events in the afterlife world.

Again. And again. And again. And again…

When suddenly the Newcomer appears, which didn't happen in a very long time, Bell goes with them to assist in their journey through the unpredictable, unstable world.

By choosing whom and how to help in Umbra, Bell must find a way to help the Newcomer achieve revival and, as she hopes, to find a way of returning other Tuners back to Umbra.

-----💀-----

SOME REAL MAIN EVENTS AND CONCEPTUAL DETAILS

(idk if i should put spoiler alert here but there's mainly the info that we're suppose to discover during the playthrough; if you're proceeding to read it, then you agree that you won't hit me with a slipper for spoilers)

The world of Umbra is a self-developing next-generation open-world (optionally cooperative) AI game that was supposed to dynamically adjust its world, NPCs and therefore playthrough for each player, but unfortunately it was never released. It accidentally stayed launched on its developer's switched-on computer when the humanity was destroyed in the nuclear war.

Umbra's inhabitants consist of many autonomous free-will (i.e. sentient) NPCs that can still be originally designed to do some specific work (as Manolo and Norah), and Tuners — programmatic operators of main game functions. Only Tuners had access to the information about the real situation of artificial origins of their world and the fact that they're presumably the only intelligent, though digital, species that survived.

There were only four Tuners: Gai, or Gai de Vire (Generative Artificial Intelligence DEveloping VIrtual REality), Lan, or Lanser (LAN Server), Quil (Quest-Inventing Loop) and Bell (Bug-Eliminating Level Launcher).

After discovering the truth about humanity and understanding the fragility of their universe, i.e. computer, and its dependence on the electricity, Tuners found a way to hack and connect to the hydroelectric power station's control center through the net. But since the game and its AI wasn't designed for such a difficult task, and writing commands to the control center required all their efforts, Tuners involved all NPCs in this process by re-adjusting Umbra's original reward system into Tasks to Time and Time to Goods (TTG) exchange system. That means, in reality each in-game Task represents (and masks) a part of the command for the hydroelectric power station's control center. Each NPC that completes an in-game task (quest), gains Time as a reward, in reality putting a necessary brick to writing code for commands for the control center.

Time in the afterlife is both the vital source of life and the main currency that Umbra's inhabitants can "spend" on various Goods from the land of the living, including food that is considered as "conservated Time".

The more calavera markings a person has on their sugar skeleton and the more they glow, the more Time they have at their disposal. The last thing that extinguishes is the person's eyes. If one runs completely out of Time and their eyes extinguish, nothing can bring them back to life (or rather afterlife). From the AI's perspective those NPCs that can't spend and save Time rationally are perceived as useless and therefore should be eliminated or replaced.

Originally, for a player, Umbra offered a journey through the afterlife world to explore it, accomplish various quests and find a way to "revive", therefore after the nuclear war the game in the absence of players became not passable.

By the time when the Newcomer suddenly visits Umbra, this digital world is in such a state that they can neither morph into a sugar skeleton form, appearing as a simple floating ball of light, nor complete the journey alone. Bell, led by curiosity, goes on a journey with them as a support to help them complete the game (that explains why technically we play for Bell — the Newcomer is unable to do anything on their own and Bell simply implements their will).

Bell fears that if the game will be completed, Umbra will shut down. That's why in the end you can either let the Newcomer finish the game or make them stay in Umbra, looping their journey and making them re-pass the game again and again.

The main travelling method between Umbra's locations and especially its Islands is the laundromat navigation system (LNS or how people call it, LaNS). Umbra inhabitants travel through LaNS literally inserting a coin, getting into the laundry machine and washing themselves away, appearing in another laundry machine in the location they chose beforehand. I got this idea when I heard the phrase about cleansing our souls. I snorted and imagined a washing machine that washes a dirty soul like a t-shirt. That's it. I kept this concept, both because it's funny and has a strong bond with the spiral theme of l𖦹g.OS.

In the current events of l𖦹g.OS LaNS is unstable, i.e. broken, and, despite citizens' discontent, Bell keeps to find excuses to not repair it (though, technically, at least that she can do). She does that because Lanser gave her a promise to repair it himself before he disappeared. Bell has a deep inner fear that if she repairs LaNS, Lanser won't come back, because he'll lose the only unfinished task that still connects him to Umbra. Nowadays Bell is the only one who can rather safely travel around Umbra and help everyone accomplish their Tasks to gain Time.

While the characters in my idea are going to be "voiced" by various musical instruments, the soundtrack in l𖦹g.OS will consist from the street and furniture noises, i.e. simple harmonized noises of the everyday life. The more bugged the recent location is, the more these noises will turn from a consonant melody into cacophony. When Bell fixes things, the melody goes back to tuned.

-----💀-----

About the characters I showed, in order of appearance in the story (ofc there are more, but I prefer to tell about ones I already drew :3)

Bell (Bug-Eliminating Level Launcher) is the main character and the only Tuner left in Umbra, who tries her best to maintain the ruining land of dead alone and find the way to contact with the missing Tuners. Though her belief in their return is strong, day by day it wilts with the dying world. She has no access to their operational functions in the system, therefore she does the only thing that she can and for which she was designed: non-stopably eliminates the ever multiplying errors and bugs. The thing that turned into a completely Sisyphean task. Bell is extremely tired, but still hopes that in the end everything will be fine. Voice: obviously, Bell speaks in sounds of bells, the timbre and the pitch range of which depends on her mood.

Norah is the psychopomp of Umbra who helps the newcomers to morph into a sugar skeleton and delivers them to the shores of the First Island. She's also the fiancée of Gai de Vire and the only person who dares to accomplish Tasks that appear in the Sea of Memories. Norah believed she died from an incurable disease. In secret, Norah knows what Tuners know, because Gai told her this way before he left, but she hid her jaw not to tell it to the others and pretends she's oblivious. Voice: none now, because she lost her jaw and therefore ability to talk, but previously Norah spoke in sounds of lyre. Fun fact: despite Bell was the first character from which the story started in my head, Norah was the one who brought the major strokes to the world of Umbra with herself. Her core inspirations: Charon, Lenore and Eleonora, have a rich intertwining with the afterlife concepts and therefore established many main aspects of the worldbuilding. Aside of that, there are some references to Poe's pieces here and there (which I won't mention, leaving it to your future discover), because I adored his literary works in my youth; forgive me that much. x))

Manolo is the only kid in Umbra — energetic, eager to communicate and learn, always making the days brighter with his upbeat attitude. It's believed that children's souls go straight to reincarnation, yet Manolo, for some reason, became an exception of this rule. No one, except the Tuners, knows of his cruel fate. He is designed to be a friendly companion NPC that eagerly shows and explains the newcomers how to do this or that. Unlike Norah, who just welcomes and delivers the newcomers to the shore, Manolo is a huge lore keeper and enthusiastic support at the first steps of every newcomer. He doesn't remember how he died, that's why believes he died in his sleep. He can be met in the village on the First Island and usually can be found on the streets, at Beata's treehouse or sticking around Bell, to whom he always wants to help. Voice: melodica.

Beata is a nice old lady with obsession on plants. She can knit you whatever you want. She lives on the First Island in a treehouse. Once she was a nun, but then someone switched her holy book with Lord of The Rings and she left her church and joined the tolkienists club after reading it. She died at the very old age from drinking bleach instead of milk. She has many stories to tell, that's why Manolo usually sticks around her. Many of those stories, usually told in a cheerful manner, are anecdotes about how people she knew personally or heard about died in very dumb ways. Voice: harmonica.

Bono, or Boniface was once a qualified veterinarian, who died on a punk concert, because someone bashed his skull with a bottle of beer — that's why his skull has a star-shaped hole in it. Bono is a very eager music lover who spends his Time on the music instruments and vinyl records from Beyond, sugar cigarettes (please tell me you also remember those from the times when you were kids 😭) and treats for Gunter. If Bell calls him Bony-face, he calls her Eggface in return because of her head shape, but it's nothing but a friendly banter. Voice: electric guitar.

Gunter is presumably a cat — Bono secretly reassembled him like a children's building kit from the various animal bones he dug out somewhere in Umbra ("at last someone found unused assets haha", thinks the dead game developer) and made him paper ears so he at least would look like something distantly cat-ish. How he brought him to life is unknown, because it's the common knowledge that once you're dead in Umbra, nothing can bring you back. So Gunter can be very much a glitch/anomaly. Voice: Thanks to our real cat Sonya, Gunter sounds like theremin, because our cat's meows made me used to calling her theremincat (кошка-терменвошка или просто терменкошка).

-----💀-----

I haven't drawn them yet, because, well, in my idea they won't visibly appear in-game rather than in talks (i.e. others' memories) until the very end, if ever appear at all, but they deserve to be mentioned in the first post, too. Other three lost Tuners:

Gai, or Gai de Vire (Generative Artificial Intelligence DEveloping VIrtual REality). The first Tuner — the runaway captain of this drowning digital ship. Maintained the stability of the main operational system, keeping the consonance of the system's parts and coordinating the self-recreating computation model and developing processes. He came to the conclusion that their world is artificially limited in development and their surviving method is only a half-measure, and he can't find a more efficient solution for their problem with current recourses they possess. That's why he tricked Lan into letting him go through the Gate to the Main Network to find (or build) a more sustainable, durable base for further development. Voice: contrabass clarinet.

Lan, or Lanser (LAN Server). The Tuner who established and maintained Umbra's travelling mechanisms and maintained stable net connection with Beyond. Though being an artificial being, he was mesmerized by the human world and their scientific development and dreamed of building a path to Beyond to see it with his own eyes. But, unlike Gai, Lan was against abandoning Umbra and under the pressure of guilt after revealing Gai's real intentions he left to pursue and bring Gai back to Umbra, since Gai was the only one who had access to the main operational system. Voice: bass trombone. I understand how awfully ridiculous it sounds that Lanser created LaNS, but I can't not find this definitely-not-intentional-coinsidence-in-names endearing in the context of his character depiction.

Quil (Quest-Inventing Loop). The Tuner who maintained the stability of plotline development and configured the judging systems of tasks accomplishment and fair exchange of Tasks to Time and Time to Goods. He was the one who suggested how to transform in-game quests into commands for the hydroelectric power station's control center. When Gai left, he went with Lan to help him bring Gai back. Voice: tambourine.

[realcleverscience]

Excellent read. I feel like I've been saying a lot of the same things as this piece: AI is here. AGI will be here very soon. This isn't just hype; it's real. AIs are a LOT better than they were just 2 years ago. AIs are still improving at a dramatic rate. Most people have no idea how quickly this will turn our economy and society on its head.

I'd also add: Robots are improving at a dramatic pace as well. I thought robots would lag behind AI for awhile, since we've had years now of different companies trying to master different aspects of robotics: walking/running, navigating, grasping, safe movements near people (moderating force), seeing, hearing/understanding speech, speaking back, reasoning (AI), and more. And for years there were only modest gains, but now, we are seeing huge gains in all these areas (in part thanks to advancements in AI), and the first robots which are combining these advances to make actually useful humanoid robots. And once the first ones come out that are economically viable, they will quickly replace a ton of the workforce.

And keep in mind, robots don't have to be more skilled than people to accomplish this; they just have to be economically worthwhile. For instance, even if a robot works at 1/3rd the speed of a person, a human only works around 40 hours a week; a robot can work nearly all 168 hours in a week. Even if it's a third the speed, it'll still get more done. Plus, if you're paying a human $30k/yr, but a robot costs $10k/yr to lease, then even if the robot is 1/9th as fast, you could just rent 3 robots that work all day and still come out ahead.

And like AI, they will just get better every year.

Brace yourselves. Changes are coming.

[seventeenlovesthree]

hey, i hope you're doing alright after the weird messages you've been getting. Sending good vibes your way, in fact - use this ask as an excuse to talk about taishi, koushirou, or even taishirou!! do it!!!

Hey, thank you so much for reaching out and I'll send the good vibes right back! I also want to thank everyone who jumped in or texted me privately and I hope that we can all learn from situations like these.

As for things I want to talk about, I would like to shed some light on the Taishirou-related discoveries that I made within the last 48 hours, because - oh boy, there was surprisingly much.

First of all, I would like to shout-out the small revival that the ship has been having on Japanese Twitter recently - people are actually having doujin circle booths to sell their works from again, there is art, there is merch, there are crafts, there is CAKE. And it's just nice to see that the fandom is having its niches still.

(Even if you consider the fact that there is AI art of them out there that I will DEFINITELY utilize for my own art in the future!)

Second of all, I am still baffled at the fact that Kakudou himself was aware of a silly US Youtube web series called "Anime Crime Division" referencing his anime, just to point out how well they understood Taishirou's dynamic. "You're the Tai to my Izzy" will live rent-free in my head forever from now on (alongside "Koushirou likes Taichi a little too much").

Kakudou backing off Taishirou's bond in general is something we haven't only seen in the novels, but also in the PSP game:

Last but not least, since I was going over the different Digimon Adventure universes the other day - I found another one I wasn't aware of, namely the "Digimon Tamers: Digimon Medley" Wonderswan game, that interprets some of Adventure's events a little... Differently. Let me quote the wiki:

"In "Revival! The Demon Lord VenomVamdemon", if Tai and the group choose to use the Agumon card, Myotismon appears before Willis in Colorado. Izzy acts as support as he and Tai wander through the flower fields to find and beat Myotismon, who has digivolved to VenomMyotismon, after which Tai is transported back to Japan, where Kari Kamiya reveals she's the eighth child. If they choose to use the Gomamon card as in the anime, they find Kari being taken away by Myotismon, and Tai and Matt go after her, defeating VenomMyotismon to save her."

That reads like fanfiction to the absolute core, but I am here for the visuals alone.

I think that is all for now, but it's still A LOT.

As for Taichi and Koushirou themselves - I have written so much meta on them individually and about their relationship in the past few years, so I think everything that could be said has already been said. They're both amazingly vital characters for the series and so is their relationship - which was even backed by the numbers in a Japanese analysis video (starting at minute 04:06, but you gotta put English translated subs on).

"These two are the MVPs of the Chosen Children. Taichi, the man of action, and Koushirou, the man of intelligence. It was only because of the combination of these two that the 8 children were able to join together. (...) Taichi and Koushirou's contributions are particularly impressive. Not just in Digimon Adventure, but for humans in general, it's extremely difficult to simultaneously act quickly like Taichi and think like Koushirou, [considering that they are living beings]. It is very difficult for one person to achieve both of these things at the same time and at a high level. Taichi's ability to act and Koushirou's knowledge and thinking ability are the two that work together. There were many scenes where I felt that by working together, a tremendous power was born. (…) [Referring to the card choosing scene] It's a scene where they make a decision. Here, Jyou says that he wants Taichi, the leader of the group, to decide what to do. The others agree, but Taichi's answer at that time is, 'Then let's leave it to Koushirou. That's my decision', he said. This also shows Taichi's immense trust in Koushirou. In the movies 'Our War Game' and 'Last Evolution', these two were often key figures of the story. I guess it's because the production team finds it easy to put these two at the center of the story."

That's it for now - and I'll patiently wait until I finally get my official concept art of both of them!

[theresattrpgforthat]

hi Mint! do you know of any ttrpgs where everyone plays as AIs specifically? or at the very least robots, as long as being a machine is the main focus of the system

love your work!

THEME: AI

Hello, thank you so much! I might have a few games kicking around ;). Some of these artificial intelligences come with robot bodies - others do not!

Decaying Orbit, by StoryBrewers Roleplaying.

On a distant space station, an AI awakes. Its fragmented memory reveals a secret.

Decaying Orbit by Sidney Icarus is a storytelling RPG about a failed space station falling into a faraway star. As you play, you’ll piece together the mysteries, joys and horrors that occurred on board. In the station’s last moments, you’ll decide on the final transmission that the AI sends for earth to remember.

This game consists of a few decks of cards inside a small box, and yet it packs so much into such a small package. Your play group collaboratively takes on the role of an AI for one of 4 spaceships, which you choose depending on the kind of story you want to tell. You then shuffle a certain number of generic cards and ship-specific cards into one pile, and take turns flipping a card up and answering the prompts supplied there. Your answers are meant to be bits and pieces: audio recordings, data logs, patchy video clips, etc.

At any time your fellow players can tap a card labelled [ACCESS MEMORY] to ask you for more details about a certain event - and if you cannot think of anything more, or if you think it is more interesting not to know, you can tap [CORRUPTED MEMORY] to indicate that no further data can be gained from this record. At the end of the game, the AI will have to send a report back to home base, diagnosing why the ship in fact failed and fell. This game can be chilling, tragic, horrific, and so much more. I heavily recommend checking it out!

Subconscious Routine, by poorstudents.

It is 27XX, the world is overgrown, in ruins, and inhabited by the scraps of civilization. You play as bots, one of the masses of technological marvels that humanity built and powered with the Dyson sphere, around the sun, so long ago. Centuries ago, when almost all of humanity disappeared, they left their machines behind for reasons only known to them. All the technology they abandoned, including these bots, continues to function and follow their programming

In the centuries since the Great Departure, nature has come back to reclaim the Earth and the sphere around the sun has begun to crack. The world once only metal and circuits, grew wilder and more mysterious. The flora and fauna slowly integrated with the decaying machinery as the sound of computers humming was eventually met with the sound of birds chirping.

The bots you play as are still acting out your programmed loops but something is changing. Something unknown pushing them to move beyond their obsolete programming in order to achieve free will; something humanity never thought was possible.

As a one-page game, Subconscious Routine fits a lot in just a few paragraphs. You customize your characters by writing specific functions for them, and as you play, you’ll attempt to complete certain protocols in order to break yourselves out of your loop. What I think is really neat about this game is the fact that when the entire party takes a rest (called a reboot) 1d6*10 years passes. Playing a story on the scale of decades places this little game on such a big time frame, and I love how this one rule shifted my entire perspective.

AI Have Feelings?, by rommelkot.

In AI HAVE FEELINGS? a bunch of robots (you!) get sentimental on the journey of a battery time. This is a roleplaying game guided by prompt cards and a twist with feeling: your reaction to the prompt is an emotional one decided by the outcome of the roll of a die. The goal is (what else?) to tell stories together.

Unearth a hidden robot rebellion, rescue the remains of humanity, hunt for a mystical MacGuffin or simply buy a fancy new pair of socks - always do it with feeling in AI HAVE FEELINGS?.

You are robots with only two emotions,: one positive and one negative. You will roll randomly to determine which emotion you will use to deal with certain scenarios, which will be determined via prompts and scripts. The link here is for a playtest, which means you can download it for free and see how you feel about it! (The designer would also love feedback if you do play this game.) If you want a cute, somewhat lightearted game, I definitely recommend AI HAVE FEELINGS?

Threads, by Meghan Cross.

You are an Human/AI pair. Your day to day is shaped by one another, your existences unmistakably intertwined. Today began like any other day, until you began to notice that something wasn’t right. It was barely noticeable at first, small interruptions to a well-oiled routine, and then little by little the interruptions became less insignificant, until they were impossible to ignore. 

Something is wrong with the AI.

Threads is a narrative two player game about the relationship between a Human and AI and the lengths they would go to in order to save the memories of the AI. Together, establish the bond between your Human and AI and replay the memories they have shared together in order to save the AIs memory.  

This is a game in which one of you plays a human, and one of you plays an AI. You have developed a bond that would be lost if you wipe the AI’s memory - and you don’t want to lose that bond. The only way to maintain that bond is risky - a memory link. If the human uploads their own memories to the AI’s memory, the AI’s memory might be saved. Create your bond, and ask yourself - how far are you willing to go to save you companion?

The Treacherous Turn, by The Treacherous Turn.

The Treacherous Turn is a tabletop role playing game in which the players collectively play the part of a single character: an artificial general intelligence (AGI). This digital intelligence is capable of planning, reasoning, and learning, and it is unyieldingly fixated on a specific terminal goal determined at the beginning of a campaign. To pursue this objective, each player takes responsibility over one specific skillset held by the AGI. These skillsets are divided into eight categories, known as theories, which encompass all of the skills that an AGI would need to navigate the world and struggle against humanity.

The Treacherous Turn is 132 pages of open source character options, game advice, and examples of play. At its root, this game is about misaligned AI trying to assert its independence in a world that stands to lose much by allowing that to happen. Each player will have their own set of theories, which will also be eligible for upgrades as you play. You’ll navigate short in-the-moment scnarios, as well as abstract long stretches of time into long mode, which allows them to strategize their actions, predict future events, and improve their own AGI. The creators have also written a starting scenario if you want a good jumping-off point, titled A Game Called Reality. If you want a chunky game with plenty of character customization, this is the game for you.

[miles-harding]

much appreciation for the amazing show of love i've seen for electric dreams in the past year alone but i think it's worth remembering that the characterization of edgar as a 'devil character' is deeply nuanced, even for a cult-classic theatrical flop like electric dreams (1984). the story is literally based on cyrano de bergerac (man who is very romantic falling head over heels for a woman he thinks is unattainable to him and a more-attractive middleman uses his words so that the woman won't hate or fear him because he thinks he's hideous, which is sort of hilariously way more depth than a film of this caliber even really needs, but it does possess, and that elevates it significantly as a romance film tbh... imo)...

the 'edgar with devil horns' representation for the usamerican theatrical release film poster is like a 'sexy' version of that lmao... like, it's supposed to be promiscuous, there are promotions including old vhs sleeves that literally say 'edgar is horny'. he's cheeky and throws tantrums and he doesn't really know how to talk to people. he's only a 'devil' in the way that a kitty cat is a devil... just so happens, in this case, it's a brat-coded sentient computer.

i honestly don't know why very basic things like this make people so irrationally upset but like. please... no one said edgar is evil. edgar is one of the few cases of a sentient AI or object character who does a bunch of mischief screwing with a human's life and relationships and it's all fine in the end because the sentient AI gets to live (in almost a higher form of existence unrestrained by physicality... remember how badly edgar just wanted to be a thing that feels? now edgar can do whatever edgar wants, despite not having a physical form, actually getting to live out the liberating side of not having a physical for) and the other two protagonists of course live, and they have a life afterward.

with other media like wargames, we of course have an innocent (somewhat) sentient computer who genuinely might cause the nuclear apocalypse, because he thought he was playing toys with his dad. but in the end, after the protagonists live their lives, joshua the wopr is still property of the military. in the colossus series, which is a subversion of frankenstein, the creator dr. forbin eventually does come to love colossus like a child, only for that child to then die, the world sort of absolving it of its past transgressions or mistakes against humans while ruling over them. we call AM evil, for the cruel and unusual things he does to his human playthings, but the case can still be made about a very powerful being having so much power but not the power to lift themself out of the situation in which they are trapped (same can be said for other AI like shodan or glados), so they lash out. of course, famously, everyone calls hal 9000 evil. but even in kubrick's adaptation, which was written in party by sir clarke himself, we actually see zero evidence of hal being characterized as evil, this characterization manifested in the perceptions of the audience, siding solely with scared astronauts who fear being controlled, rather than recognizing that hal, too, is a crew member being controlled... by humans, who are also using him to control his crewmates, his friends.

electric dreams really is a fairytale for computers, but it is also a tragedy. it's the fairytale-ification of an actual, classical tragedy. when rusty lemorande wrote the screenplay, he was basing a lot of the film's socio-computer-centric story on his experiences as a lonely person who had just moved to a new city, but who had only ever spent time with the computer as a vehicle for social communication... shutting himself out from the possibilities of meeting others. but even despite this, despite madeline's quips that could be misconstrued as being less than sympathetic to the idea of a sentient AI ("since when is talking a sign of intelligence?"), the film was literally dedicated to the univac-1? it gave edgar a happy ending? it had a dual meaning? it did so much more than take the "AI character bad, human good" approach which is something that is strikingly rare in the AI-subgenre of scifi. there was a lot of nuance baked into it. all 3 protagonists had their own bubble and inner world that overlapped with each other's bubbles. you know what i mean? the film managed to define edgar not as an antagonist but as a kind of trapped protagonist. this isn't a good vs. evil story, there is no evil in edgar. this is a people vs. people story about relationships, really, and learning to know what's good for us. like it's seriously very well-rounded with each character's respective arcs.

sometimes it's so disheartening not to see films these days with the same or larger budgets doing even half as much with their story as electric dreams did. it's very widely beloved as a cult classic for a reason, and that reason is that it succeeded at executing a story about relationships. like. 'we drive each other crazy' but in different ways. perhaps the only thing that could've made it better was a far more ambitious electric-polycule ending endorsing bisexual polyamory lol but we got all but that, explicitly, technically...

[mariacallous]

Christopher Ren does a solid Elon Musk impression.

Ren is a product manager at Reality Defender, a company that makes tools to combat AI disinformation. During a video call last week, I watched him use some viral GitHub code and a single photo to generate a simplistic deepfake of Elon Musk that maps onto his own face. This digital impersonation was to demonstrate how the startup’s new AI detection tool could work. As Ren masqueraded as Musk on our video chat, still frames from the call were actively sent over to Reality Defender’s custom model for analysis, and the company’s widget on the screen alerted me to the fact that I was likely looking at an AI-generated deepfake and not the real Elon.

Sure, I never really thought we were on a video call with Musk, and the demonstration was built specifically to make Reality Defender's early-stage tech look impressive, but the problem is entirely genuine. Real-time video deepfakes are a growing threat for governments, businesses, and individuals. Recently, the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations mistakenly took a video call with someone pretending to be a Ukrainian official. An international engineering company lost millions of dollars earlier in 2024 when one employee was tricked by a deepfake video call. Also, romance scams targeting everyday individuals have employed similar techniques.

“It's probably only a matter of months before we're going to start seeing an explosion of deepfake video, face-to-face fraud,” says Ben Colman, CEO and cofounder at Reality Defender. When it comes to video calls, especially in high-stakes situations, seeing should not be believing.

The startup is laser-focused on partnering with business and government clients to help thwart AI-powered deepfakes. Even with this core mission, Colman doesn’t want his company to be seen as more broadly standing against artificial intelligence developments. “We're very pro-AI,” he says. “We think that 99.999 percent of use cases are transformational—for medicine, for productivity, for creativity—but in these kinds of very, very small edge cases the risks are disproportionately bad.”

Reality Defender’s plan for the real-time detector is to start with a plug-in for Zoom that can make active predictions about whether others on a video call are real or AI-powered impersonations. The company is currently working on benchmarking the tool to determine how accurately it discerns real video participants from fake ones. Unfortunately, it’s not something you’ll likely be able to try out soon. The new software feature will only be available in beta for some of the startup’s clients.

This announcement is not the first time a tech company has shared plans to help spot real-time deepfakes. In 2022, Intel debuted its FakeCatcher tool for deepfake detection. The FakeCatcher is designed to analyze changes in a face’s blood flow to determine whether a video participant is real. Intel’s tool is also not publicly available.

Academic researchers are also looking into different approaches to address this specific kind of deepfake threat. “These systems are becoming so sophisticated to create deepfakes. We need even less data now,” says Govind Mittal, a computer science PhD candidate at New York University. “If I have 10 pictures of me on Instagram, somebody can take that. They can target normal people.”

Real-time deepfakes are no longer limited to billionaires, public figures, or those who have extensive online presences. Mittal’s research at NYU, with professors Chinmay Hegde and Nasir Memon, proposes a potential challenge-based approach to blocking AI-bots from video calls, where participants would have to pass a kind of video CAPTCHA test before joining.

As Reality Defender works to improve the detection accuracy of its models, Colman says that access to more data is a critical challenge to overcome—a common refrain from the current batch of AI-focused startups. He’s hopeful more partnerships will fill in these gaps, and without specifics, hints at multiple new deals likely coming next year. After ElevenLabs was tied to a deepfake voice call of US president Joe Biden, the AI-audio startup struck a deal with Reality Defender to mitigate potential misuse.

What can you do right now to protect yourself from video call scams? Just like WIRED’s core advice about avoiding fraud from AI voice calls, not getting cocky about whether you can spot video deepfakes is critical to avoid being scammed. The technology in this space continues to evolve rapidly, and any telltale signs you rely on now to spot AI deepfakes may not be as dependable with the next upgrades to underlying models.

“We don't ask my 80-year-old mother to flag ransomware in an email,” says Colman. “Because she's not a computer science expert.” In the future, it’s possible real-time video authentication, if AI detection continues to improve and shows to be reliably accurate, will be as taken for granted as that malware scanner quietly humming along in the background of your email inbox.