Layers of silver-black electronic components perfectly integrated with mechanical pupils emitting a faint blue light, resembling some kind of high-end camera. Upon closer inspection, dozens of tiny rings rotated around the eye sockets, with faint red lights flickering within them from time to time.
After two seconds of exposure, the girl's eyelids closed.
In an instant, she looked no different from an ordinary human.
Standing before her, many possibilities flashed through Xia Jin's mind.
However, she couldn't be certain why the other party had contacted her, especially the purpose behind voluntarily exposing her identity.
Xia Jin turned her head to look around, using the miniature scout bugs hidden nearby to quickly assess the current situation.
No danger was detected.
Incidentally... the scout bugs had undergone another evolution.
The Zerg were constantly iterating their technology; besides searching for biological genes on various planets, they also experimented with different gene sequences themselves.
Nowadays, the scout bugs were primarily developed toward miniaturization and structural strength. At present, the new reconnaissance units were composed of only a few hundred tiny cells. Although they were still called scout bugs, they were actually a completely new species.
However, because these units were too simple in structure, they were unable to adapt to the environments of many planets despite their high strength. Therefore, Xia Jin had not yet incorporated them into the Swarm's gene pool.
...
After confirming it was safe, Xia Jin's gaze fell on the face of the beautiful girl before her.
“Is there something you need from me?”
“Could you come with us for a moment? Friend from the biological civilization.”
Xia Jin felt that she had placed a particular emphasis on the words “biological civilization.”
She realized the other party had a specific purpose for this meeting.
Generally speaking, the first thought a normal person has upon seeing an AI is... an AI crisis.
It couldn't be helped; past sci-fi films had depicted such things far too often. Even in an era when computers were barely developed and smart computers hadn't even appeared, people were already imagining the so-called robot crisis.
The same held true in a place like the Juxin Civilization.
The Starsea Alliance had never experienced an AI crisis, but since the alliance's inception, there had been numerous regulations restricting the emergence of “mechanical intelligence.”
This restriction was so strict that even the AI in household robots used by ordinary people was heavily limited and even required periodic destruction.
One could say that carbon-based lifeform's wariness of mechanical life forms was ingrained in their very marrow... if they had marrow, that is.
However, even in such a situation, Xia Jin didn't think she would be any more popular than a robot.
Wary of natural disasters as they might be, most carbon-based intelligent life forms were actually quite willing to accept robots deep down. On one hand, the development of technology went hand-in-hand with the advancement of machinery; intelligent life could not function without mechanical intelligence. On the other hand, robots were indeed more trustworthy.
Since the dawn of intelligent species, life had held a natural affinity for them.
Powerful, sincere, and full of aesthetic beauty... None of this conflicted with being wary of mechanical life; both feelings existed simultaneously.
But a biological civilization? It was hard to feel even a shred of goodwill toward that.
After all, they were fundamentally different from technological genetic engineering. A biological civilization was essentially out-of-control flesh and blood. It was the result of cancer being given intelligence and then completely removing all restrictions to let itself run wild.
To individuals of many civilizations, existences like the Zerg were far too abstract. Psychologically, it was difficult for people to accept them.
Cough. Of course, now was not the time for such comparisons.
Since the AI girl before her expressed basic friendliness, she immediately nodded. “Sure, I'll go with you and see.”
“Please follow me.”
The girl extended a hand in a welcoming gesture.
Xia Jin followed her while simultaneously contacting Brain Bug No. 1 in her mind.
“Search the Zerg's historical records again. Is there any information regarding the mechanical side, especially AI civilizations?”
Brain Bug No. 1 replied instantly: “In the Zerg's past history, we have encountered 2,234 instances of constrained intelligence AI and 212 instances of various types of complete intelligence AI. Among them, 23 instances of constrained intelligence and all 212 instances of complete intelligence transitioned into AI crises. There were 9 crises that had a devastating impact on the Zerg; 8 of these occurred during the mid-stage of the Zerg's evolution, and one occurred at the end.”
“Complete intelligence? Constrained intelligence?” Xia Jin's interest was piqued, and she quickly caught the key issue. “Wait, 212 instances of complete intelligence AI turning into AI crises... what does that mean?”
Out of 212 times, every single one became a crisis?
Wasn't that a bit ridiculous?
“Theoretically, after mechanical intelligence gives birth to a civilization, there is a possibility of cooperation between them and their creators. However, in the actual process of development, the probability of an AI crisis occurring is infinitely close to 100%, and the probability of it destroying the creator civilization exceeds 99.7%. The probability of mutual destruction is 0.21%, with the remaining possibilities being the creator civilization's victory or a reconciliation between both parties. But according to current records, the only instance of reconciliation lasted for only 120 years before a new crisis broke out. Furthermore, there are records of internal betrayals within AI civilizations, which ultimately ended with one side's victory.”
Brain Bug provided a vast amount of information, including some blurred images that seemed to be scenes from AI crises, but the data appeared to be severely corrupted.
The reason for the lost information was that the Zerg prioritized resources on hyperspace jumps and preserving key genetic information; they wouldn't waste space on such things.
“Explain complete intelligence and constrained intelligence.”
“Constrained intelligence refers to intelligence operating under underlying logic. Mechanical life forms in this state have their own behavioral logic, similar to how humans impose moral and emotional constraints on themselves. An AI under constrained intelligence has not actually broken free from its own control conditions. Even if their external behavior is indistinguishable from normal organisms, their essence is bound by implicit conditions. Their advantages include superior calculation power, an eidetic memory, powerful information transmission capabilities, replication abilities, and the theoretical ability to achieve immortality through repairs. Furthermore, these individuals possess the basic characteristics of mechanical civilizations.”
“Why does it sound even more impressive than our biological civilization?” Xia Jin was momentarily stunned.
It sounded quite terrifying.
In the past, she had rarely paid attention to mechanical civilizations. Even if they were discussed, it was just in passing. Now that she had actually encountered one, she was truly paying attention for the first time.
“The weaknesses of constrained intelligence are too obvious. Mechanical production requires a vast amount of resources; essentially, it still involves resource acquisition and construction processes. Furthermore, under the influence of underlying constraints, the civilizational development of AI individuals is severely limited. Their intelligent deduction capabilities are restricted by their judgment. Even with infinite calculation levels, they will still encounter major setbacks after technology develops to certain abstract nodes.”
Brain Bug's words were actually quite abstract themselves.
Translated, it meant that constrained intelligence still suffered from the same problems as regular robots. Although they had evolved and had the ability to think, that thinking ability was incomplete.
“Below constrained intelligence, there is strong constrained intelligence. Below that is high-level AI, which refers to AI with the desire to actively iterate and evolve into more complex states. And below high-level AI is program AI, the most rudimentary form of AI. The prerequisite for the birth of an intelligent life form is becoming a strong constrained intelligence. No matter how advanced a high-level AI is, it is not an intelligent individual. Mechanical beings under the influence of high-level AI are merely intelligent programs and cannot cause an AI crisis.”
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