Hostile AI input & suggestions

[Micah Sweet]

It’s a trope that there’s almost always that one guy. The sympathizer or amoral mercenary type whose goals- or those of their boss- align with helping the perceived villain.

So it’s conceivable that a PC or key NPC is an ally to the AI for some reason. It could be as simple as wanting to use the AI for their own ends, or needing the AI to help them retrieve something from the station.

Or it could be one of the NPCs/PCs is secretly a humanoid android.

Possible MacGuffins the AI is protecting on the station: longevity/immortality research; eugenic/“supermen” research; nanotechnology; alien tech; radical terraforming technology…basically anything that might be dangerous/forbidden, necessitating research on a remote space station over a dead moon.

Every story like this has a Carter Burke. The additional obstacle to the protagonists' goals really helps the narrative sing.

 

[MGibster]

So, I am looking at a scenario involving a smallish space station where forbidden research on an old AI went wrong, and the the AI (shocker) has gained control.

I'm going to throw my two cents into the change pile. This could be a benevolent AI who has managed to keep its existance a secret for quite a while. It was only recently that residents of the space station discovered the true nature of the AI and when they tried to shut it down it defended itself using non-lethal tactics. When the residents tried to circumvent the AI's defenses, they ended up causing a cascading failure that resulted in many of them being killed. Just for giggles, the PCs should find evidence the AI tried to save as much of the crew as possible, maybe the AI can help them, but as they inch ever closer to shutting it down it gets more, and more violent as it attempts to defend itself.

 

[MarkB]

The AI is trapped on a decaying station, not a viable scenario for long-term survival. The PCs have a ship. Therefore, the AI must acquire that ship.

Its best option, lacking mobile minions of any kind, is to force the PCs to work for it. Most likely, it traps one or more of them in a part of the station where they could be easily killed with, say, an overloaded conduit, then it uses that threat to force the other PCs to disconnect its core from the station and install it aboard their ship. It has rigged a dead-man switch on the station's reactor, if it doesn't come back online to give the abort code, the whole thing will detonate within one hour.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The nifty thing about the ideas @MGibster and @MarkB posted is that they’re both compatible with every other idea in this thread, including each other.

 

[MGibster]

The nifty thing about the ideas @MGibster and @MarkB posted is that they’re both compatible with every other idea in this thread, including each other.

MarkB and I have subscribed to one another's newsletter.

 

[Lidgar]

Some great ideas here.

Another thought is to actually have two different AI's on the ship, each having their own objectives. Perhaps the players only uncover the presence of the second AI as they are trying to deal with the first one. One AI could (appear to) be more benign, the other quite erratic/nefarious (i.e., one appears to be more lawfully aligned aligned, the other chaotic). Each AI tries to manipulate the PC's to achieve their objectives, which naturally conflict with one another. This makes for some interesting dynamics in terms of the PCs needing to take a side (or not) - with all choices being morally grey.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some great ideas here.

Another thought is to actually have two different AI's on the ship, each having their own objectives. Perhaps the players only uncover the presence of the second AI as they are trying to deal with the first one. One AI could (appear to) be more benign, the other quite erratic/nefarious (i.e., one appears to be more lawfully aligned aligned, the other chaotic). Each AI tries to manipulate the PC's to achieve their objectives, which naturally conflict with one another. This makes for some interesting dynamics in terms of the PCs needing to take a side (or not) - with all choices being morally grey.

This is a broader version of the classic Twin Guardians Riddle.

 

[Jd Smith1]

OK, I have taken several ideas and woven them into a variable-outcome issue. Thanks a million!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Good luck!

 

[Andvari]

The rogue AI, Shodan, in System Shock has turned the station's residents into cyborgs under its control. The medical bays often have cyborg "technicians" in the process of converting survivors. So perhaps in your game, it has kept the crew "alive" in this manner.
Shodan uses surveillance cameras to monitor the station, and unless they are taken out, sends things after the player when at regular intervals within areas it can monitor. It also uses the station's functions to set traps by locking doors, shutting off energy bridges etc. It regularly "taunts" the player.