What skills would a NAI-4 have in 2011?

[Langy]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Computer Operation, yes. Math not so much because it is easy to put there (it's a Hard skill), but more because math is the basis of everything.

Math is easy to put there. We arguably already have dedicated AIs with Math skill - look at Mathematica or any of the other computer algebra systems out there. Math has a set of rules to it, and things with a set of rules (even if there are tons of them) are easy to program, even if normal people can't use them so well because the rule set is so large and humans are so terrible at using them.

While Accounting, Finance, Market Analysis and Merchant might seem a small niche, they aren't: Accountants are a very large portion of computer users, which is why tech support typically sees them as the primary clientelle. The latter three skills will be popular not because they have everyday applications, but because their applications influence every day of their lives. For instance, getting cheaper items of the same quality is always good, even if you only actually buy them once a month or year.

I've never heard that accountants are considered the primary clientele of tech support before - sounds rather dubious to me, seeing as non-accountants greatly outnumber accountants.

In any case, accountants are still not consumers. They're providers. They provide a service and, as such, software specific to them shouldn't be on every single AI out there. Also, while Merchant might be useful for most people, Finance, Market Analysis, etc are all more important for people who actually handle money - in other words, useful mainly for accountants and the people who hire accountants. There's no reason to put software in the AI that will eliminate half of an entire job group. Maybe some small amount of Accounting skill would be added to the NAI to help people with home finances ala TurboTax, but I don't think Finance or Market Analysis would be required.

As for limiting skills to IQ+2, that seems a bit low. IQ+C perhaps?

I don't see why IQ+2 is too low - that's generally the highest I see skills get on SJG-created character sheets for realistic games, and it seems unlikely that they'd be able to give the AI a higher relative skill level than the programmers have access to. Besides, IQ+2 sounds more than reasonable; it really prevents these silly 'my AI is more than professionally competent at everything even though he's a complete moron!' situations.