Questions for playing as an AI

[Zale]

So.. I'm new to gurps, and am trying to make a artificial intelligence as a character.

The main premise of the character is an AI that was made to sift through vast amounts of data, and then use this to calculate/extrapolate on large scale events- Like the stock market, or weather prediction. Basically, the usage of Oracle (Digital) from Powers.

So a few questions on this:

What counts as a "Purely Mental Action" skill-wise for an AI connected to the net? Could my character use a Compartmentalized Mind to research (As the skill) things on the internet while carrying on a discussion?

Because it's my character's main shtick, Are there any useful enhancements for Oracle?

Is there a version of Altered Time Sense that only allows extra mental actions?

[Flyndaran]

Anything that a brain in a jar could do would count as mental only. ;)

If you have wireless internet access, then your second mind could do anything mental without bothering the one focusing on the physical reality.

[Anaraxes]

Is there a version of Altered Time Sense that only allows extra mental actions?

In a sense, Compartmentalized Mind _is_ the limited version of ATR that allows only extra mental actions.

You might want several compartments. Talk to your GM, but it's commonly accepted that multiple compartments can work on the same mental task and reduce the overall time.

Take a look at Intuition and Psychometry as other powers that could have a reasonable justification as part of the Internet searching and data analysis. (Here's a post I made a while back about an Internet service that reminds me of nothing so much as Psychometry.)

Powers supplies the Oracle (Digital) variant, which basically swaps the Sense rolls for Research and Intelligence Analysis skills.

[Zale]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Anything that a brain in a jar could do would count as mental only. ;)

If you have wireless internet access, then your second mind could do anything mental without bothering the one focusing on the physical reality.

Awesome. I was hoping for that. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

In a sense, Compartmentalized Mind _is_ the limited version of ATR that allows only extra mental actions.

You might want several compartments. Talk to your GM, but it's commonly accepted that multiple compartments can work on the same mental task and reduce the overall time.

Is there a usual rate of reduction? Like having two minds working on it cutting the time in half, or what?

Semi-Related: How would a digital duplicate be different from compartmentalized mind?

Take a look at Intuition and Psychometry as other powers that could have a reasonable justification as part of the Internet searching and data analysis. (Here's a post I made a while back about an Internet service that reminds me of nothing so much as Psychometry.)

Powers supplies the Oracle (Digital) variant, which basically swaps the Sense rolls for Research and Intelligence Analysis skills.

That's a spin on Psychometry I've never thought of before, and looks really interesting. I'm totally going to try to fit that and intuition into my character!

[Flyndaran]

A digital duplicate could be "downloaded" into another robot "puppet" and be controlled by the same player.
Without that advantage, any copying is like reproduction and not under the original player's control.

[Anaraxes]

Is there a usual rate of reduction? Like having two minds working on it cutting the time in half, or what?

Depends on the problem, but it's generally linear for the ideal tasks that can be subdivided. Two compartments, half as long; three, one-third as long, and so on. Imagine two people doing the work; would it go faster? If the task is "read 1000 books" (or websites), then pretty much yes. (If we're being picky, there's a step to integrate results, of course.) If the problem is completely serial, where you can't do Step Two without having the answer to Step One, then the extra mind won't help at all.

Also, glance at the "Time Spent" and "Long Tasks" rules on B346. You can have bonuses and penalties for spending extra time. Extra people count as extra time. And a mind Compartment counts as an extra person for those purely mental tasks. So you can have a skill bonus for taking the normal time, or work a bit hastily without a penalty.

Semi-Related: How would a digital duplicate be different from compartmentalized mind?

Both of your mental Compartments have to stay in your brain and share your one body. Duplicates are just that -- there are two of you, and the two entities can act independently, go different places, hold two conversations at once, and so on. "Normal" Duplication results in two physical bodies, too. The Digital limitation for Duplication restricts it to mental computer/robot things.

If you're interested in Duping, this might be a good place to consider Alternative Abilities. You might decide that you can send your second mind out into the Net, making it a Dupe (with a single mind and leaving you with a single mind), or you can keep them both at home, giving you Compartmentalized Mind. You can't use both abilities at once, but the advantage is that you can get the cheaper one (Dup, in this case) for 1/5 price.

[Zale]

I think I'll do that, actually. It's cool and rather thematic.

Erm. New question. How do you represent a character who's primary body is a immobile mainframe somewhere?

[Anaraxes]

A short question with a long answer. Unfortunately my time is short right now, so I'll have to settle for the vague, general answer: you buy lots of ads and disads to reflect the character, some of which may not leap to mind at first.

So, you might start with Sessile, because you said "immobile". Then there's "No Fine Manipulators", unless you have robot arms on your mainframe. You probably have to pay for Doesn't Breathe and Doesn't Sleep. Basically, plow through the whole list and ask "is this trait something all mainframes have compared to the GURPS default human?"

You bundle all these traits that define a computer together into a "meta-trait". See B262. You'll probably want to start with something close to the Machine meta-trait in the book; there's also an AI meta-trait to consider.

Try searching the forum for brain-in-a-jar templates.

Have you looked at Transhuman Space? That might not be your setting, but it features a lot of different kinds of AI, and might be a useful resource to mine for ideas.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Zale

I think I'll do that, actually. It's cool and rather thematic.

Erm. New question. How do you represent a character who's primary body is a immobile mainframe somewhere?

Everything Anaraxes said, plus Possession if you can travel to other computers through the internet.

[vicky_molokh]

An important point is that Compartmentalized Mind, Altered Time Rate and Duplication interact multiplicatively. Consider:

You split into two copies (Duplication), each of which is twice as fast as a human (or a 'normal' AI - using ATR), and besides, each AI is programmed for multitasking (Compartmentalized Mind). Net effect: 2 instances of AI, each providing 4 mental man-hours per hour, a total 8-fold improvement in productivity compared to a normal human in solving mental problems that are subject to multi-threading.

Of course, you should make sure the hardware is good enough to support all that code . . .

Edit: According to Kromm, ATR+CM interact additively, though Duplication is still multiplicative.