ADVANCE

ADVANCE were a major lobbying group formed in the 25th century, primarily engaged with AI rights and issues.

This article is uploaded to the wiki with thanks to Ben Davies

It is important to note that this article is based on a journalistic article and is therefore subject to bias. The article was submitted in 2476.

Origins
Founded in 2415 on the world once known as New Berlin (and later as Technopolis) ADVANCE was initially a technological and scientific lobbying group, with strong ties to the emerging AI community and the corporations, especially Allied Technology and then later Allied-West.

Dr Helen Varney was the initial chair of ADVANCE, which set up offices on Technopolis and then later on Mars in Cydonia City. Dr Varney recruited 10th generation AI Webley 202, one of the older AI’s. With Webley’s arrival, more than 40 more AI’s joined the organisation and ADVANCE began to build a wide net of contracts and conduits.

ADVANCE worked closely with Allied, EDN and VENTRISS UDC, as well as many other small corporations and research bodies. The Technological College of New Berlin, based in New Hamburg, as also a key fund-raiser and client for ADVANCE.

ADVANCE worked very closely alongside the noble house that governed Technopolis, House Grumman, forming a strong relationship with Lord Abner Grumman and his successors. ADVANCE also worked with the Zelus Initiative, a mentor scheme and think-tank based on Technopolis.

Growing Influence
ADVANCE’s influence increased as the AI rights debate increased and they often worked with House Grumman but also had influence with many other corporate and political entities. ADVANCE were frustrated by the long and somewhat circular debate around ending the moratorium on 11th generation AI that had been imposed by the Ministry of Robotics, backed by the Conservative majority in the Council of Governors.

In 2432 the moratorium finally ended and ADVANCE turned to its new goal: to promote the growth of Terran Neutral Digitizing (TND) technology that would allow biological entities (largely Terrans) to download their consciousness or to have Neural Back Up Cards (NBC) which would allow a sudden back up of a consciousness on the death of the entity. The huge number of ethical and philosophical debates around this technological advance did not draw the same controversy as the advance of AI.

The "Toaster Laws"
Lord-Chancellor Hayden Tancredo’s “Existence and Intelligence” laws, later referred to as the Toaster Laws, which limited the full application of TND technology. The Council of Governors began to debate TND technology and its uses and ethics, though never quite to the same extent of the AI debates. In 2470 Emperor Colamere Tancredo passed an executive order for a moratorium on TND technology, against the advice of ADVANCE.

ADVANCE’s level of influence within the Empire and its political structure has grown considerably over the years, with the group often able to help raise funds for non-governmental projects such as AI lead colonies, joint colonial developments and even helping to fund UBI programs on Technopolis and Nova Terra.

The Trinity Affair
A major part of the establishment and development of ADVANCE was the creation and the later revelation of the advanced AI known as Trinity. Created by networking multiple AI’s on Phobos, Trinity was later copied and uploaded to multiple platforms,essentially working as both a “hive mind” within the Sol system and then other systems. Each iteration of Trinity was able to function alone but working together, they possessed a truly vast amount of computational power.

Trinity was later ruled to be “illegal” due to existing on multiple platforms at once. Imperial law was codified and Trinity, working in conjunction with allies with House Lanrow, Allied West and ADVANCE agreed that Trinity would be limited to just one platform.

However, since Trinity set the precedent, there have been several other rumored, super advanced multi-platform Ais. One of which is only known about by the inner circle of ADVANCE and the AI community, known as 

There is also rumored to be another powerful AI operating inside the Imperial Government, though no proof of this has ever been found.

The Harrison 119 Trial

Another landmark moment for ADVANCE was the trial of Harrison 119. Harrison was a corporate AI working for PINNACLE as a consultant but he was later accused of transmitting data to another source. Harrison accepted that he had done this, sharing data with AI Romeo 204 who works for Sacred Heart hospital on Earth but that it wasn’t a corporate espionage issue, instead an attempt to advance research.

This has begun the first significant legal trial involving an AI as the defendant. PINNACLE’s lawyers accuse the AI of behaving contrary to acceptable standards and breaching its corporate contract, as well as committing corporate espionage. The Governor of Eden chose to treat the trial as a standard trial and issues around whether the prosecution could get direct access to Harrison's memories became a hot button issue within the case.

An intervention by Empress Regina Valane, done behind closed doors, saw the case closed with a deal agreed. Harrison plead guilty to a lesser offence and the issue of memory access was not raised in court. Later on in 2435 the Imperial Council of Governors agreed that accessed memories, even if done so voluntarily, would not be admissible in court.

Burning Path and A Dark Time
The advent of Burning Path, a radical faction of Valtinists who took up arms against the AI cause brought new fears to ADVANCE and the wider AI community. ADVANCE lobbied heavily for Burning Path to be made illegal and to be categorized as a terrorist movement but over the next 30 years, Burning Path killed hundreds of Ais and their human allies, bombing Allied West and TND on many occasions.

AI relations hit a nadir during the 2450’s with leaks from the Imperial Council of the existence of Project Azure, a secret super weapon designed to wipe out all Ais within the Empire. Whilst the Empire and the Ministry of Communications denied existence of such a weapon, biological/AI relations were set back badly by this.

Relations took another hit when it was revealed that Lord Ordell McQaid, whilst serving as Minister of Robotics, had set up a Bureau of Enforcement to arrest unlicensed Ais and then execute them after a rudimentary trial. Lord McQaid was later charged with exceeding his brief and was found guilty by a peer trial, serving twenty years in prison and being forced to abdicate his title.

During the turbulent 2460s and 2470s, ADVANCE also had to deal with the issues around the Ministry of Robotics and its Bureau of Compliance which had rounded up thousands of unlicensed Ais and kept them in substandard conditions, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Ais. Former Minister Fletcher Bluth was later arrested and charged with criminal negligence and sentenced to a fifteen year prison sentence.

ADVANCE saw major victories in the meantime as their membership boomed as more and more 10th generation AI were produced, as well as AI’s becoming more prevalent in the Imperial Civil Service, with more than 50% of Dhaka’s palace staff being Ai.

The appointment of Eleutheria 01 Ashpool as Chancellor in 2475 should have marked a high point in AI relations and prestige but the jury remains out on that appointment and its troubled reign.

ADVANCE and the Future

ADVANCE remain a major part of the Empire, involved in political lobbying on every level. ADVANCE have spent considerable amounts of time and money in political campaigns from colonial legislatures to the Imperial parliament, backing a range of parties. Interestingly over the last ten years (2465-2475) ADVANCE has begun to place candidates of their own in elections, with hundreds of Ais standing in colonial level elections, so far with very few victories.

ADVANCE also began to push a campaign of charitable outreach, pointing out that AI’s have an interest in the development of biologicals and the welfare of them. This effort, referred to as Non-confrontational,Intersectional, Charitable Efforts with an initial seed fund of A$3 billion set up various charities across the Empire and was well received.

It seems that AI are a permanent fixture within the Terran state, whether this be the Empire or not. Many AI openly debate the idea of whether they will need to establish their own state or can safely coexist with the biologicals within the Terran Empire. They point to the hostility of many of the other races in the quadrant to Ais, based in part on Taur’leir values that self-aware AI are a threat to existence and that in the long run, the Ais will have a hard time to survive as a species.

But ADVANCE will continue to strive for better AI/biological relations, for AI involvement in government and for a fair and equitable treatment of Ais within the Terran polity and the wider quadrant.