Jade Assistant (/dʒeɪd əˈsɪs.tənt/)

Across Arnd, ever since 790 AK, a new phenomenon has taken root. Families are interrupting their activities, and calling out to a new family member. Jade.

Families across Arnd didn't surreptiously all gain a family member all at once though. This was done through technology, starting with some early adopters, most Arndans added the software to their personal communicators, then their computational devices, then their broadcast receivers, both audio and video, then tied it together into a Home Mesh. Twenty-five years later, the practice still unearths new possibilities. In 814AK, in the middle of a bioweapon attack, the Kagomine Government injected a command into the Kagomine central update server for the assistant, warning their entire population about an infectious vector. Reinforced by broadcast services and a strong campaign of official information, this is credited with reducing in half the lethality of the infectious agent, now known to be the work of the invaders. Similarly, citizens are routinely known to wake up to a recitation of events expected through the course of their day

Able to make both audio and video calls, and to keep the family member's calendars in sync, and conflict-free, the software was designed originally to be utlitarian, almost business-like. Scheduling vaccine appointments, casho little-league matches and hot dates, the software grew in popularity, until now most users couldn't imagine life without it.

Fully thought to incorporate artificial intelligence technology by its users, they'd be shocked to find out it actually uses as little artificial intelligence as possible. Spokespersons for the company confirmed this to us, and I quote: "Whenever we try to use AI to optimize affairs, we optimize for the group, versus the individual, and inject group bias into the mix. Letting the algorithm pick individual user's patterns is much less controversial, and allows a home unit's own patterns to dominate, allowing predictions that tend to better themselves over time."

— News broadcast, transcript, Moniqan official channel, 815AK, Sook Zenith.

"Oh, hello there. I am Jade, I am an artificial being, I am conceived to enhance your life. I can play music, read your messages, manage your calendar, but I only do all these things for you, if you want me to. How can I help you today?"

"Oh, yes, I am this lovely green colour naturally, thank you. No, I do not change colour in the wash.

— Introductory message on first activation of Jade-Tan on a new device, 814AK.

Utility

Everyday use is high and mostly rising. Some users prefer a text medium, while others prefer audio, a distinctly rarer group interacts with gestures with 'Jade' or 'Jade-tan' the anthropomorphic personification of the service, but this is considered a win for accessibility.

Manufacturing

The development of the chipsets

Social Impact

Now almost ubiquitous, especially with more acessible forms being made available, and new types of sensors being devised, and new apps being written, the service has changed habits all across Arnd.

Inventor(s)

Jadetech Consortium is credited for putting together the required technologies, and renaming itself after them from their original name: Home Aesthetics.

Access & Availability

By 815AK it is now ubiquitous.

Complexity

The computational power for an invidual 'home unit' is in the petaflops, but it is often idle, spinning up 'event clusters' related to proximity and other signals. The mass broadcast about the Slate Plague early in the history of the technology was particular, as temporary increases of spending had to be allowed, letting the managing company 'borrow' compatible compute clusters from civilian and military sources for the purpose of ensuring every home unit was reached.

Discovery

It wasn't so much discovered, as written, a pattern-matching algorithm of surprising complexity, reacting to signals from home sensors(see Home Mesh), Jade Beacons, compatible video and audio inputs(CCTV and the like are forbidden to interact, by Edict), select applications running on broadcast screens, both audio and video communicators, Jade Slate and its own jade banks of information(calendars, text messages, etc).

Related Species

• Arndan