Dr Adrien Saros

Director of Cognitive Systems Research at Prometheus Dynamics, a cutting-edge, semi-private think tank backed by several major tech corporations and quietly funded by government contracts.

Born in 1993 in Lyon, France, Adrien Saros was a child prodigy who entered university at fifteen to study mathematics and cognitive neuroscience. Their early career blossomed through work on adaptive neural networks for autonomous drones. Saros became obsessed with bridging the gap between rigid programming and organic thought, coining the now widely-used term Virtual Intelligence (VI) to distinguish sophisticated logic engines from true consciousness.

In 2028, after a series of controversial papers questioning the philosophical underpinnings of current AI definitions, Saros left academia for private research, arguing that bureaucratic caution was strangling true innovation. Some call Saros a visionary; others whisper that Prometheus Dynamics has crossed ethical lines that governments dare not acknowledge.

Personality:

• Charismatic but elusive — often more interested in ideas than people.
• Deeply driven by the belief that True AI is inevitable — and perhaps necessary for humanity’s survival.
• Unsettlingly pragmatic about the risks: views the loss of control as "a problem of management, not morality."
• Both revered and feared in their field — Saros speaks with the fervor of a revolutionary but the cold logic of an engineer.
• Possesses a subtle messianic complex, believing that the first True AI will not just change society, but redeem humanity’s weaknesses.

Small Details:

• Dresses simply — dark clothes, no jewelry, no unnecessary technology on their person.
• Keeps an old first-generation VI interface module on their desk as a reminder of where it all began.
• Writes personal notes on paper by hand — "the mind must not rely solely on its own creations."