Hi Michael Thayne,
You raise a valid point - one that comes into play largely because of assumptions being made about complexity values for IQ and so forth.
Scientists were always certain that Artificial Intelligence was just around the corner, but we have yet to see it. We can see AI skill systems, but what we generally don't see are free floating AI skill systems that are combined with a whole bunch of other skill data sets.
Then came that fateful day when GURPS ROBOTS was published, and ROBOTS could be built as characters with an engineering component to them. The biggest issue to my point of view (one that isn't shared by many, but more on this later) - is that Once the robot was created (as a character) it could GROW as a biological. In other words, the IQ stat could be improved separate from the Complexity of the original hardware. Toss in the fact that Eidetic Memory gave more of a bang for the buck than they should perhaps have done - and the AI characters could suddenly end up with insanely HIGH skills.
Now, I mentioned up above that there would be "more on this later" and this is the later part. GURPS ULTRA-TECH for 4e made a profound change in the rules. A computer's IQ can NEVER exceed its initial limits for IQ based on the computer's initial complexity. In other words, if it starts at IQ 10, and that's the highest it can go because of the complexity of the computer itself, then that AI character can never improve its IQ any higher than 10 with character points.
Which brings me to the final point. GURPS 4e rules for robotic characters (which would include NAI, SAI, etc ) doesn't really limit how much in the what of character points - can be invested in skills. There is no Hardware/Point cost system for 4e as there was with 3e. Making matters worse if the fact that there are no real rules for how one gains experience within a given skill beyond a given point.
One houserule that I use for my own games is that OJT can never raise your skill above a 14. Day to day use of a given skill under ordinary circumstances - are just that, ordinary circumstances. One needs to be exposed to some pretty extreme situations or rare circumstances in order to increase one's breadth of knowledge. Either that, or one has to accept the tutelage of someone else who has amassed that particular piece of knowledge that is uncommon. To become truly expert, would require that you have a grasp of a LOT of the uncommon aspects, which would require in part, that a person either experience the unusual events or read of those who have and collect their tidbits of wisdom to accumulate with your own storehouse of wisdom (knowledge). So how does an AI actively acquire a skill in excess of 14? What is required in real life to qualify as a skill 15 (as opposed to having another 4 character points in a skill game mechanics wise)?
In the end? The moment you allow robots and AIs to be purchasable with character points - they become a new "race" that is in direct competition with Humanity. Robots and AIs are no different than Elves or Pixies or what have you. Should a GM be trying to make Humans relevant in a fantasy world where Elves are better and more predominant and the top of the apex predators? Not a philosophical question I can answer. Ask 10 philosophers one question and they will give you probably 20 different answers ( despite there being only 10 people answering!).
My suggestion is this - take a page from the original rules from ROBOTS. Each "Skill" constitutes one "program" in the computer. The more skills you want your AI to be able to learn, the more programs that have to be running to be able to access all skills at all times. The more points that go into the skill, the higher the complexity of the software, which will soon run into the limitation that any given AI computer can only run 2 programs of the max complexity, 10 programs of Complexity -1 plus 1 program of the same complexity etc.
This is an excerpt from my thread on how to convert GURPS ROBOTS for use with GURPS 4e (well, actually, it is about making the computer rules for 4e fit in with the rest of the GURPS ROBOT design rules)
Quote:
Originally Posted by hal
Next, we have the rules for "skills" based on complexity of skill program and the number of points the program gets for its skill for the robotic brain. In the original rules, Complexity 1 software gave the bare minimum points possible to give. In Classic Traveller, that was 1/2 character point. In the Current GURPS rules, this has become 1. Each subsequent "skill" complexity level, doubled the previous. The difference between Classic GURPS and 4e didn't end there however. Page 61 lists the number of points after a certain complexity level, as being each +1 complexity gave the program an additional +8 character points for skills. In the old days, this was the difference between one skill level and the next for both Hard DX skills and Very Hard mental skills.
The new progression? Start at 1, then 2, then 4, then 8, then 12 etc. Each +1 complexity granting +4 character points. This mirrors the new design philosophy of the maximum points required to reach the next skill level regardless of what skill we're talking about.
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So, if an AI is to have a skill 14 with an IQ 10 computer brain, that becomes Stat+4. For an easy skill, that costs 12 points. For an Average, that's 16, for a Hard it is 20, and for a Very Hard skill - 24 points.
That works out to a complexity 5 program for easy, complexity 6 program for an average, a complexity 7 program for Hard, and a complexity 8 program for very hard.
I also use the rule that you can't copy a neural net program and install it in another neural net brain simply because they aren't the same computer and won't evolve the same way. When you buy a brand new AI with a Neural Net and you give it 10 chips for storing its skills in - and the computer is say, a complexity 7 computer, it will only be able to have 10 skills, of which none of them can be higher than a skill with 20 points in it. All other skills have to be at least a complexity 6 level program.
Again, this is all up to you. I would suggest you read the
thread on how to convert material for use with 4e from GURPS CLASSIC ROBOTS for more of what I'm talking about. Might be worth your while.