Well-Known Member
V I S
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To create a new synthetic intelligence system for future submissions and role-playing.
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Canon Link: N/A
Permissions: N/A
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PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Visanj T’shkali
Affiliation: Closed-Market
Model: Virtual Intelligence System (VIS)
Modularity: Yes; can be configured to present a hologram form and sound to a variety of image types and speech forms, as well as language, etc.; can also be fitted into holo-projector systems on ships, vehicles, armor, and more.
Production: Minor Production
Material(s): Electronics, Code, Digits.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- In essence, this ‘virtual protocol droid’ provides a user interface system capable of adapting to take on a variety of appearances, vocalizations (inclusive of various languages, gestures, body language, protocols, etiquette, etc.), and demeanors, thus enabling ease of communication/interaction with literally thousands of species.
- Able to process information quickly with exceptional accuracy, and to access databases, they can answer questions, provide tours, give instructions in various disciplines or for performing a certain task, analyze information and make accurate predictions or develop potential scenarios, assist with scheduling and planning events, take dictation and other secretarial services, help with translations and cross-cultural programming, and numerous other services, including even simple monitoring of various systems and locations.
- Not actually ‘artificial intelligence’, they are rather just very clever administrative / protocol assistant programs. Personality programming can further the impression of artificial intelligence, however these programs are much less sophisticated and require only a fraction of the computer space of larger A.I.-type programs. Unlike A.I., these programs cannot control various systems (except perhaps to adjust lighting or temperature in room or other simple actions), cannot create abstract propositions, assist with armor or ship operations, or other more advanced roles. Instead, they are simply very clever holographic user interfaces, designed to enable faster, more fluid interactions and provide a helpful and broad range of services to users.
STRENGTHS
- Can provide a broad and varied range of services and assistance to users via an aesthetically-pleasing, amiable, and helpful holographic interface to any of a thousand or more species, able to communicate with them perfectly, including – as they’re holograms – body language and gestures as well as verbally.
- Requiring much less programming and memory space accommodation, a VIS provides many of the same services which the more sophisticated and larger A.I.-type programs are commonly called upon to perform but with significantly less burden on computers, freeing up space for A.I. programs or systems to focus on more important duties and roles.
- A V.I. can perform the combined functions of administrative, secretarial, tutorial, protocol, and other droids, reducing the need for numerous droids or personnel aboard ship.
WEAKNESSES
- V.I. Systems do not have the depth of programming to perform actions or provide services on the same level as their A.I. cousins, and lack their cognitive power and capabilities as well, meaning they cannot control complex ship systems, carry out numerous simultaneous and disparate prolonged interactions, or serve to help in combat in any way.
- V.I. Systems are often restricted in their parameters, limiting their range and scope of what information and services they can provide. Without being able to access certain databases, they may be unable to provide requested services. (Ex.: A VIS cannot answer medical questions if it does not have access to medical databases, nor can it communicate in a language it does not have record of, meaning that very obscure or presently unknown information will result in the user being told, “I’m sorry, I cannot assist you with this at this time.”)
DESCRIPTION:
Visanj had built artificial intelligence systems before, and she was no stranger to the complexity and scale of such programs. Likewise, she’d always preferred the ease and comfort of holographic user interface technologies. Finally, she had learned that the creation of A.I. programs was lengthy and very often taxing on the computers they were to be loaded onto. In most cases, she surmised, people often used A.I. programs for tasks and situations beneath their capacity and unnecessarily burdening their computers in the process. It was quite frankly, a case of too much for too little, or rather, it was something often akin to using a mass driver to kill a scrap rat!
Vis saw two possibilities. First, the ability to create a scaled-down synthetic intelligence program one which, unlike the sentient or semi-sentient A.I.s she and most of the galaxy were using, would be a ‘virtually intelligence system’. Second, was the opportunity to create something and name it after herself. Ego aside, Vis was quick to work on the idea.
A Virtual Intelligence System, or VIS, was not truly intelligent, merely they were only cleverly programmed to appear to be so. Personality programming, access to various databases of information, holographic interface technologies, all combine to give the illusion of function as an A.I. A VIS can take the place of a number of droids or personnel, including secretarial or administrative assistant droids, translators and protocol droids, tutorial droids and teachers, tour guides, information kiosks, and more. Further, they need only a fraction of the space required for the more sophisticated A.I. programs and systems, and – because by their nature they’re limited in their ability by their access to databases and systems – they can be far better suited to situations and applications of less importance and not requiring access to ‘delicate’ or ‘restricted’ information and systems.
Some of the duties the VIS can perform include:
- Tutorial / Education: The VIS can serve to instruct students in any of a number of fields, or in the performance of certain tasks. Anything from xenobiology to martial arts, and from dance to making simple repairs to a comlink can be accessed and the holographic teacher can explain, demonstrate, and advise its pupil, answer questions, even process information to make ‘educated projections’ and extrapolate outcomes and scenarios.
- Secretarial / Administrative: A VIS can take dictation, plan events, make appointments, set calendars, advise on matters of business, law, and finance, assist to prepare reports, conduct research, and more.
- Protocol / Translation: VIS can communicate in any language found in the databases to which it’s linked, even appearing as various species so that it might use gestures, body language, and other non-verbal communications methods used by certain species. Capable of real-time translations with exceptional accuracy and nuanced detail (as if a native speaker), the VIS can also assist with manners of cross-cultural protocol, etiquette, and cultural usages for most any socio-cultural and political class, making it suitable for even diplomatic interactions. It can also advise and consult on matters of cultural understanding and engagements.
- Entertainment: A VIS is capable of telling jokes, storytelling, performing dances, even acrobatics, juggling, acting out scenes and monologues, or any of a variety of holographic performances to entertain users.
- Information / Research: Able to answer questions by rapidly processing through databases, conducting cross-reference research, perform complex computations and making calculated predictions, a VIS can answer questions on most any topic provided it has access to sufficient databases or other information, extrapolate and predict future scenarios, conduct tours, give status updates and monitor various systems such as life support, medical diagnostic monitors, etc. It can also locate selected persons onboard a ship, access duty rosters, schedules, even personnel files if permitted to do so by its programming.
- Limited Systems Control: With suitable programming and security permissions, a VIS can control non-sensitive systems, giving it the ability to control lighting, adjust room temperatures and environmental settings, direct and control food synthesizers, draw a hot bath, or access communications systems to make calls on non-secure channels.
A VIS is not however an A.I., and though one might mistake it for one, they simply do not compare. A VIS is little more than a user interface with limited intelligence and clever programming to enhance the user’s experience. It is not endowed with the latitude and breadth of access, complex cognitive capabilities, or depth of self-awareness of an A.I. system. Abstract thoughts, emotive abilities, and other hallmarks of sentience are not present in the VIS, not nearly to the same degree, if at all. As they lack these abilities, a VIS cannot command and control a ship’s navigation, avionics, or weapons systems, cannot override safety protocols, cannot assist to any real degree in combat; a VIS is merely an assistance, educational, and entertainment program. But the benefit of such programs, not merely for their commercial potential among civilian use, but in decreasing the number of droids and personnel aboard a military ship, enabling a faster and more fluid user experience, and opening available space in the ship’s computers and removing often tedious demands from an A.I., enabling it to focus itself and its resources elsewhere, cannot be underestimated.
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