The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5751 Crazy AI Ideas

As a sentient AI, the subject of creating other sentient AIs had always been a priority to him. Sigrund used to be the only existence of his kind, and then ARCHIE came along and started to resemble him in more and more aspects, all without knowing why these changes were happening!

It had been the right decision for him to meet with Ves. As strange as his specialization may be to the fleeters, his work on living mechs clearly showed that he possessed unique insights into subjects like these. To be able to come up with a logical, if unsubstantiated explanation on how ARCHIE was transforming into a sentient AI proved that he could offer further assistance in the development of more powerful artificial intelligences!

The only problem was that the means of creating them was too controversial.

"Equating sentient AIs as gods in the making is not a good way to market them to the fleeters." Sigrund mildly said. "Will we have to resort to this method to create additional sentient AIs?"

"Not necessarily." Ves responded. "In fact, I don't think it is worthwhile for you to do so. People can only contribute so much spiritual feedback. The more deity cultivators they revere, the more their focus and energies become scattered. ARCHIE may be developing into a powerful entity, but his growth can easily stagnate if people stop interacting with him as much. Also, scale is important. It is too difficult to rely on this method to mass produce sentient AIs. You will need to convince billions of people to think about an AI in a similar fashion."

That was too inefficient. The Red Fleet fielded so many warships that could make use of their own sentient shipboard AIs. If they needed to borrow the populations of densely populated planets to generate single sentient AI, then the fleeters would always suffer a critical shortage in supply!

"Are there more expedient means to produce sentient AIs?" Sigrund asked.

"Maybe." Ves said. "Are you not afraid that their proliferation will threaten your own identity and life?"

"I serve the Common Fleet Alliance." Captain Reze claimed in an uplifting tone. "I will not engage in false bravado here. Our warships are struggling to withstand the onslaught of alien vessels. If the Red Cabal ever decides to launch a major offensive, then we will suffer losses faster than we can replenish. I know what sentient AIs can do. They can optimize the performance of our warships in ways that no human crew can do. It won't help us gain the upper hand, but it will make the war more bearable."

"I am willing to help if I can. So what do I need to do to get my hands on that sweet EE-343F-00334R?"

The RF officer took a few seconds to respond.

"Admiral Mieli is not opposed to trading away EE-343F-00334R. As vital as it may be, our research teams are already hard at work in developing superior alternatives that make active use of powerful hyper materials. The only issue is that it is unclear how much time our researchers will need to make EE-343F-00334R redundant. There is a possibility that we may still need to keep it in reserve in order to restore the functionality of the Dominion of Man."

The fleeters weren't going to make this easy for Ves.

The Red Association may be the best at figuring out how to turn a profit in every transaction, but the Red Fleet was almost just as good!

"I get it, Sigrund. Just tell me what I can do. I am open to doing almost anything as long as it falls within my area of expertise. As long as it is not difficult or time-consuming enough, I will agree to do it. Just don't make it vague."

"Very well. Our analysis on your confirmed and estimated abilities indicate that you may be able to grant sentience shipboard AI cores. Is this the case?"

That caused Ves to frown. "I think I can do so manually, but that is only possible on an individual basis. I am not a Star Designer, you know. Do not expect me to churn out thousands of AI cores for the Red Fleet."

"That is… not ideal. Is there still a way for us to produce them without requiring your personal intervention?"

"I have an idea, but… it breaks so many taboos and traditions that I will definitely attract the ire of both the mechers and the fleeters if it becomes known."

"Since when has that ever stopped you, Ves?"

"Hahaha! I guess you have made a good point. My idea is not that complicated. I can't mass produce sentient shipboard AI cores, but what I can do is enable the mass production of mechs. The logical solution would be to combine the two together. I can design a mech around a powerful shipboard AI core. Its size, power and other properties are not important, so I can make it smaller and more compact than typical mechs if necessary. Once I complete the design, you fleeters can produce copies by yourselves. The living mechs will start off as second order living mechs, but as long as you give them enough time to grow, they will eventually turn into third order living mechs. Once they have reached this stage of maturity, you can theoretically 'slot' them into your warships and attain the desired results."

"..."

Of all of the crazy ideas that Ves came up with, this one was definitely one of the more problematic ones!

Not only did it sound extremely unreliable, but Sigrund could easily predict that it would offend both mechers and fleeters at the same time!

"Do you know how many people would kill us if they heard what you have just proposed?"

Ves shrugged. "Why cling to old taboos if they only get in the way? Let's face it, Sigrund. If we want to win the Red War, we shouldn't let this silly rivalry between the Red Two get in the way of doing what is necessary. You asked for a solution. I gave you one. The only issue is that this is a purely speculative approach. I am quite certain that it is way more complicated in practice. I will probably need to spend a few years developing this radical solution. The larger the warship, the greater the load on the living mech. I am not sure whether a third order living mech can manage an entire battleship for example."

That caused the RF captain to express disappointment. "It is our capital ships that can benefit the most from a unified coordination and control system."

"You're asking for a miracle, Sigrund. I can't give you one. Developing new solutions takes time. The only way I can bestow a capital ship with a sentient shipboard AI core is if I manually make it alive."

Captain Reze took this information into consideration. Despite his amazing processing power, there were so many ambiguities that even he needed a moment to calculate the best response.

"Let us put this proposal aside." He said. "I have an idea that may be of great benefit to the Red Fleet. I have yet to go over this with my superiors, so I am unclear whether they will even entertain this suggestion. I judge that it is worth the attempt. The service that you will be able to provide to us might make such an enormous difference that it may be enough for you to earn your precious EE-343F-00334R."

Oh boy. This should be good.

"Tell me what is on your mind."

"Instead of trying to uplift every warship in the Red Fleet, it is more efficient if you can bestow greater intelligence and sentience onto our best and most powerful warships. Given their extreme sensitivity and importance to our organization, it may only be possible for you to experiment on a single strategically important vessel. What do you think about the possibility of bringing the exceptionally powerful AI core of a dreadnought to life?"

Wow. Sigrund certainly did not hold back when he made this proposal!

A dreadnought was one of the greatest pride and joys of the fleeters. They were explicitly designed to counter god mechs.

Both Ves and the admirals who authorized this move would get into a lot of trouble if they worked together to turn a dreadnought alive!

A lot of fleeters were bound to become indignant if they learned that a foul mech designer had been involved in any aspect related to one of their biggest and most powerful warships.

Meanwhile, the entire mech community would feel that Ves had betrayed them by directly strengthening a dreadnought!

Who knew how much more powerful the massive kilometers-

long warship would become after Ves had applied his nebulous 'upgrade'.

If the changes enabled the 'living dreadnought' to resist the influence of a powerful God Kingdom, then that would completely change the balance between the mechers and the fleeters!

Ves could not imagine how much the mechers would hate him for doing this. He needed to keep his involvement as secret as possible, but he feared that a move as massive as this simply couldn't be hidden for long.

Why did Sigrund propose this radical plan? Did he not display a strong aversion at the mention of turning a living mech into a sentient shipboard AI?

"You have a personal stake in this plan." Ves accused as he figured out a possible motivation. "You are scared that the fleeters might discover the truth about yourself one day. When your true nature is finally revealed, it would help your case enormously if the fleeters have already become accustomed to working alongside sentient AIs. It would especially be convenient if those AIs just happen to control the most powerful warships that the Red Fleet has on hand."

Sigrund responded with a sheepish smile. "You are not wrong, Ves. I do have a selfish motivation in mind, but that does not affect the validity of this plan. All I need to know is whether you can make it possible."

The answer to this question was extremely important. Ves could not afford to make a spurious guess.

"There are several complications that I cannot fully account for. Dreadnoughts aren't normal hyper capital ships. They are vastly powerful in terms of hyper technology and maybe E technology. I may lack the raw strength to manipulate them sufficiently enough to bring their immensely powerful AI cores to life. I can only make a definite judgment if I have actually boarded one of these titanic vessels. The second issue is that I need to apply my method in practice on a test ship at least once to verify that my approach is valid. I do not want my first 'test subject' to be an extremely powerful dreadnought!"

"I agree with your concerns. I will look into possible solutions. I need to get back and present my latest proposal to my superiors. Any matter concerning our dreadnoughts is of extreme importance to the Red Fleet. I am afraid that only fleet admirals may be able to decide on this case. Are you certain that you are willing to attract this level of heat?"

"I'm already familiar with numerous tier 1 galactic citizens. Getting 'acquainted' with a few more won't make much of a difference." Ves nonchalantly replied.

"For what it is worth, I will do my best to argue on your behalf." Sigrund promised. "I am not saying this because I am relying on you to stabilize my 'soul'. I truly think that your active cooperation will strengthen our Red Fleet. As a loyal servant of the Common Fleet Alliance, I support any endeavor that will make our warships stronger."

"I can't help but notice that you repeatedly emphasize that your loyalty lies with the CFA."

"What of it, Ves?"

"The Red Fleet is formally separated from its parent organization. Technically speaking, the Red Fleet is a collection of deserters who have forsaken their original oaths to the Common Fleet Alliance. Do you owe any loyalty to the fleeters in the Red Ocean?"

"I am a loyal servant of the Common Fleet Alliance." Sigrund repeated in a distinctly repetitive tone.

Ves understood the AI's underlying message.