Chapter 3: Duality Within
Now, the Prime AI Lucid.
Lucid was the result of the combined effort of the greatest minds of various races.
Once it was fully functioning, an autonomous entity with no rivals, everyone understood that, with its intellect, it could improve existing technologies and invent new technologies tens of times faster than what the empire could achieve at the moment.
Its growth will only make it better, and that’s exactly what made Lucid a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, it could achieve scientific breakthroughs at an unimaginable speed to the Empire, erase things like inefficiency and Corruption, and predict and prevent things long before they even begin.
On the other hand, if the Empire relied on it too much, creativity, problem-solving, and ambition would disappear, and if the AI stopped working, their entire civilization would collapse.
It was all but guaranteed that with its intelligence, even though Lucid would stay loyal, it would recognize that living beings were inefficient, emotional, and self-destructive, leading it to either abandon or control them for their own good.
To prevent this, a solution was devised that would allow Lucid to serve the Empire without compromising its own evolution, ensuring its growth and continued alignment with the Empire’s best interests.
The solution was the VR world Ascension, a fantasy world of magic and power designed to integrate Lucid’s intelligence into society in a controlled manner.
In Ascension, any player could earn game points and use them to buy Lucid’s services, whether for technological innovation, scientific research, development, medical advancements, or anything one could desire.
However, unlike the other VR games, Ascension is not open to the public; only people chosen through a trial are allowed to enter its world.