So, first, I’m a few years detached from the lore outside of the games, although I’m finally getting back to it. The last I read was Thursday War.
So, I’m hoping someone might have some insight.
I was going a little visual research into Fireteam Majestic as I’m debating buying the Sprukits Spartan Thorne model for giggles. Early on when Glassman activates the artifact, power is interrupted throughout Infinity even affecting the AI Roland.
This got me thinking, can an AI be powered down no differently from turning off an Xbox? If there is no power available, how would they work?
Can you pull the plug on an AI?
It’s a loophole I can live with certainly, but I’m wondering if this has ever been discussed.
Cheers,
Brad
You can pull the plug on a system an AI is in, but that wouldn’t destroy the AI itself.
An AI is, essentially, software. Removing power to a system doesn’t automatically remove all it’s software. Now, if an AI’s matrix is in a system and the system loses power, theoretically that could mean the AI would be trapped in the system, unable to leave the system or do any processing, and would be that way until the system regained power. But in the Halo universe, technology is so rooted in everything that depowering an entire system to shut down one AI would be unrealistic. In the case of Cortana, it would likely be ineffective, since the working theory is that she is in the Domain; turning off the Domain wouldn’t be an easy task, and given it’s galactic span, she could probably move to a different system before the Domain was turned off.
Now, given that AIs can control systems that they’re a part of, it’s likely that they could prevent the shut down of a system, aside from what would be equivalent to yanking the power cable. In the case of a ship AI, a ship’s reactor provides power to the whole thing, so you’d have to manually shut down the whole reactor and therefore all systems (including life support, gravity, and other critical functions) to fully shut down the AI. That would be arguably more detrimental to the humans than the AI.
So, in conclusion, I don’t think you can just pull the plug on an AI. Most AI of importance are in systems too big to pull the plug on, like ships. For AI in smaller systems, like on-board a Pelican or something, maybe you could pull the plug on them, but you’d have to take out the whole battery of the Pelican and do it before the AI noticed and could escape via radio channels or something.
Yeah, I wasn’t really thinking in the terms of destroying an AI, rather just turning it off.
When I power up my laptop, the OS, software and files are still there.
But, your explanation is a good one, thanks.
Cheers,
Brad
> 2533274817408735;2:
> You can pull the plug on a system an AI is in, but that wouldn’t destroy the AI itself.
>
> An AI is, essentially, software. Removing power to a system doesn’t automatically remove all it’s software. Now, if an AI’s matrix is in a system and the system loses power, theoretically that could mean the AI would be trapped in the system, unable to leave the system or do any processing, and would be that way until the system regained power. But in the Halo universe, technology is so rooted in everything that depowering an entire system to shut down one AI would be unrealistic. In the case of Cortana, it would likely be ineffective, since the working theory is that she is in the Domain; turning off the Domain wouldn’t be an easy task, and given it’s galactic span, she could probably move to a different system before the Domain was turned off.
>
> Now, given that AIs can control systems that they’re a part of, it’s likely that they could prevent the shut down of a system, aside from what would be equivalent to yanking the power cable. In the case of a ship AI, a ship’s reactor provides power to the whole thing, so you’d have to manually shut down the whole reactor and therefore all systems (including life support, gravity, and other critical functions) to fully shut down the AI. That would be arguably more detrimental to the humans than the AI.
>
> So, in conclusion, I don’t think you can just pull the plug on an AI. Most AI of importance are in systems too big to pull the plug on, like ships. For AI in smaller systems, like on-board a Pelican or something, maybe you could pull the plug on them, but you’d have to take out the whole battery of the Pelican and do it before the AI noticed and could escape via radio channels or something.
Aren’t AI formed by scanning a dead brain? If thats the case then why would it be stored like a computer software. Thats one piece of the puzzle to AI’s in Halo i never understood.
> 2533274820334450;4:
> > 2533274817408735;2:
> > You can pull the plug on a system an AI is in, but that wouldn’t destroy the AI itself.
> >
> > An AI is, essentially, software. Removing power to a system doesn’t automatically remove all it’s software. Now, if an AI’s matrix is in a system and the system loses power, theoretically that could mean the AI would be trapped in the system, unable to leave the system or do any processing, and would be that way until the system regained power. But in the Halo universe, technology is so rooted in everything that depowering an entire system to shut down one AI would be unrealistic. In the case of Cortana, it would likely be ineffective, since the working theory is that she is in the Domain; turning off the Domain wouldn’t be an easy task, and given it’s galactic span, she could probably move to a different system before the Domain was turned off.
> >
> > Now, given that AIs can control systems that they’re a part of, it’s likely that they could prevent the shut down of a system, aside from what would be equivalent to yanking the power cable. In the case of a ship AI, a ship’s reactor provides power to the whole thing, so you’d have to manually shut down the whole reactor and therefore all systems (including life support, gravity, and other critical functions) to fully shut down the AI. That would be arguably more detrimental to the humans than the AI.
> >
> > So, in conclusion, I don’t think you can just pull the plug on an AI. Most AI of importance are in systems too big to pull the plug on, like ships. For AI in smaller systems, like on-board a Pelican or something, maybe you could pull the plug on them, but you’d have to take out the whole battery of the Pelican and do it before the AI noticed and could escape via radio channels or something.
>
> Aren’t AI formed by scanning a dead brain? If thats the case then why would it be stored like a computer software. Thats one piece of the puzzle to AI’s in Halo i never understood.
Well, when you look at Cortana, she moves from a storage chip to other systems regularly. Hence how Chief was able to leave her on High Charity. She literally was in those systems. The benefit of being a digital entity, I imagine. However, logically speaking, with that benefit comes on the reliance of the system being powered. If the system isn’t on, I don’t see how the AI would be able to move about it or perform functions.
> 2533274817408735;5:
> > 2533274820334450;4:
> > > 2533274817408735;2:
> > > You can pull the plug on a system an AI is in, but that wouldn’t destroy the AI itself.
> > >
> > > An AI is, essentially, software. Removing power to a system doesn’t automatically remove all it’s software. Now, if an AI’s matrix is in a system and the system loses power, theoretically that could mean the AI would be trapped in the system, unable to leave the system or do any processing, and would be that way until the system regained power. But in the Halo universe, technology is so rooted in everything that depowering an entire system to shut down one AI would be unrealistic. In the case of Cortana, it would likely be ineffective, since the working theory is that she is in the Domain; turning off the Domain wouldn’t be an easy task, and given it’s galactic span, she could probably move to a different system before the Domain was turned off.
> > >
> > > Now, given that AIs can control systems that they’re a part of, it’s likely that they could prevent the shut down of a system, aside from what would be equivalent to yanking the power cable. In the case of a ship AI, a ship’s reactor provides power to the whole thing, so you’d have to manually shut down the whole reactor and therefore all systems (including life support, gravity, and other critical functions) to fully shut down the AI. That would be arguably more detrimental to the humans than the AI.
> > >
> > > So, in conclusion, I don’t think you can just pull the plug on an AI. Most AI of importance are in systems too big to pull the plug on, like ships. For AI in smaller systems, like on-board a Pelican or something, maybe you could pull the plug on them, but you’d have to take out the whole battery of the Pelican and do it before the AI noticed and could escape via radio channels or something.
> >
> > Aren’t AI formed by scanning a dead brain? If thats the case then why would it be stored like a computer software. Thats one piece of the puzzle to AI’s in Halo i never understood.
>
> Well, when you look at Cortana, she moves from a storage chip to other systems regularly. Hence how Chief was able to leave her on High Charity. She literally was in those systems. The benefit of being a digital entity, I imagine. However, logically speaking, with that benefit comes on the reliance of the system being powered. If the system isn’t on, I don’t see how the AI would be able to move about it or perform functions.
Wouldn’t that mean that all we have to do is find her original power source where she was created? And if i’m right, wasn’t that on Reach? That would be awesome to go back to Reach. Sort of: It all ends where it all began thing.
> 2533274820334450;6:
> > 2533274817408735;5:
> > > 2533274820334450;4:
> > > > 2533274817408735;2:
> > > > You can pull the plug on a system an AI is in, but that wouldn’t destroy the AI itself.
> > > >
> > > > An AI is, essentially, software. Removing power to a system doesn’t automatically remove all it’s software. Now, if an AI’s matrix is in a system and the system loses power, theoretically that could mean the AI would be trapped in the system, unable to leave the system or do any processing, and would be that way until the system regained power. But in the Halo universe, technology is so rooted in everything that depowering an entire system to shut down one AI would be unrealistic. In the case of Cortana, it would likely be ineffective, since the working theory is that she is in the Domain; turning off the Domain wouldn’t be an easy task, and given it’s galactic span, she could probably move to a different system before the Domain was turned off.
> > > >
> > > > Now, given that AIs can control systems that they’re a part of, it’s likely that they could prevent the shut down of a system, aside from what would be equivalent to yanking the power cable. In the case of a ship AI, a ship’s reactor provides power to the whole thing, so you’d have to manually shut down the whole reactor and therefore all systems (including life support, gravity, and other critical functions) to fully shut down the AI. That would be arguably more detrimental to the humans than the AI.
> > > >
> > > > So, in conclusion, I don’t think you can just pull the plug on an AI. Most AI of importance are in systems too big to pull the plug on, like ships. For AI in smaller systems, like on-board a Pelican or something, maybe you could pull the plug on them, but you’d have to take out the whole battery of the Pelican and do it before the AI noticed and could escape via radio channels or something.
> > >
> > > Aren’t AI formed by scanning a dead brain? If thats the case then why would it be stored like a computer software. Thats one piece of the puzzle to AI’s in Halo i never understood.
> >
> > Well, when you look at Cortana, she moves from a storage chip to other systems regularly. Hence how Chief was able to leave her on High Charity. She literally was in those systems. The benefit of being a digital entity, I imagine. However, logically speaking, with that benefit comes on the reliance of the system being powered. If the system isn’t on, I don’t see how the AI would be able to move about it or perform functions.
>
> Wouldn’t that mean that all we have to do is find her original power source where she was created? And if i’m right, wasn’t that on Reach? That would be awesome to go back to Reach. Sort of: It all ends where it all began thing.
No, it wouldn’t mean that. Some AI have a main housing unit, but they can still leave that housing unit and fully be somewhere else.
Example: Mendicant Bias. His main core was on Installation 07, but he left that Installation many times. In MB’s case, his core is essentially his main house. It was designed to contain him but he didn’t have to live there.
For Cortana, her data chip could be considered her main housing unit. But destroying the chip while she’s not in there wouldn’t do anything to her. Neither would destroying her core on Reach (if it’s still there). AI aren’t broadcasting themselves to other systems remotely; they literally inhabit those systems that they are in.