Inorganic Intelligences

"Inorganic intelligences" is an umbrella term for any entity whose decision-making is programmed in by human designers. There are three main types of inorganic intelligences, though the line between each group isn’t always clear due to the variety available.

Expert Systems

Example: The clunky machine with grabby hands that refolds all the clothes on the shelves.

These robots are designed to perform a specific repetitive task like stocking shelves or cleaning toilets. They make decisions regarding how to perform these tasks, but can’t go beyond this and crash or behave erratically if brought into unexpected environments.
Expert systems come in a variety of appearances, most designed to best suit the equipment or materials they work with. A janitorial system may have a broom or mop built in, for example. They rarely mimic human forms.
On modern planets, many mid-to-high class stores and facilities employ a variety of expert systems. In lower-class areas, they may be prohibitively expensive, or otherwise too appealing for others to steal.

Virtual Intelligences

Virtual intelligences, often abbreviated as VIs, are the most varied of inorganic intelligences. Some are barely smarter than an expert system while others are supercomputers. They might exist in a purely digital form, analyzing data or managing systems, or be downloaded to a human-like body (a "shell") to interact with the world.
Despite their immense capability, VIs have several restrictions:

• Not even the most advanced VIs can learn new skills beyond their original programming.
• VI shells are notably inhuman. The skin color is off, the movements are stilted, and there are seams around joints.
• VIs downloaded to a shell cannot be transferred to a new shell later one without being factory reset.

Example: The "accountant" you've never met, but who sends reminder emails at the exact same time every week in weirdly precise language.

More expensive VI shells make the visual "defects" more aesthetically appealing. Programmable lights, unique skin patterns and colors, and other modifications grant alien designs to the human creation. Designer VIs is among the fastest-growing industries today.

Artificial Intelligences

Example: The main character from the hit 3117 film "Artificially in Love".

True AI are defined by their quantum identity cores. Many organizations are working to rediscover the art of creating True AI, lost since the Scream, but much of that research has paused since Perimeter's formation despite there being no official anti-AI stance. The Protectorate has only asserted pre-Scream restrictions requiring all AI to be braked, to severely limit the potential upper limit on their thinking.

Primers are articles covering base concepts that help bring context to other articles. Read the others here:

Drones

Drones are relatively small devices that can operate on pre-ordained protocols or be remote directed. They have many uses from the pleasurable to the practical, and can even be armed to aid with security. However, they're not considered intelligent, and thus don't fall under the inorganic intelligence umbrella.

What is it?

Test your knowledge! Each description below fits a type of inorganic intelligence. Can you determine what each one is?

A waist-high cyllinder with blades that cut the grass.

This is an Expert System.

A program that manages traffic flow around a city.

This is a Virtual Intelligence.

A many-armed post that bags groceries for you.

This is an Expert System.

A hyper-intelligent entity that hops between shells.

This is a True AI.

A store mannequin that helps you find products.

This is a Virtual Intelligence.