Military grade AI, the Mythos and Delta Green

          “Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on the subject of AI

        “An increasing number of States are developing military AI capabilities, which may include using AI to enable autonomous systems.”  That is the opening statement of the document “Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy” issued by the US Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance that was posted on the US State Department’s website on February 16, 2023. 

        The State Department release contains recommendations and 12 “best practices” for endorsing States to follow with regards to military AI, specifically those that are involved with autonomous systems.  Also, on February 16th, 2023 it was reported that more than 60 nations signed a non-binding document endorsing the “responsible military use of AI”. Critics quickly pointed out that the document "failed to address concerns like AI-guided drones, 'slaughterbots' that could kill with no human intervention, or the risk that an AI could escalate a military conflict."  

        In the Delta Green universe, we can assume that everything goes wrong. 

        Delta Green can be described as a paramilitary organization.  From special operators becoming Agents, to air strikes possibly being requisitioned on targets depending on the theater of operations; Delta Green Agents can often get their hands on once exclusively military grade tech.  Let us assume that States like the US fail to keep military grade AI proprietary to themselves.  The logical trickle-down effect in this scenario would be that paramilitary agencies and eventually law enforcement officers could get access to formerly military grade AI machine time, or autonomous hardware like AI-guided drones or even the ominously described slaughterbots.

        To support this bleak argument, allow me to describe the situation that occurred in San Francisco in December of 2022.  The SF Board of Supervisors voted 8 to 3 in a measure to give police the authority to use ground-based robots to kill when, as the ordinance stated, “[the] risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and officers cannot subdue the threat after using alternative force options or de-escalation tactics.” Consequently there was a public uproar. In protests, members of the public brought signs reading “NO KILLER ROBOTS!” to City Hall. The board voted to reverse course.

        However, what if the board did not reverse course? Or if this legislation was raised and passed in population centers that are less notorious for protests?  Would we see increased militarization of law enforcement agencies?  I argue “yes” and that in such a fictional world Delta Green, both the Program and the Outlaws, could be changed by such policies. 

        Now other than breaking the seal of allowing Delta Green Agents to have access to newer and more horrifically disturbing weapons, how would access to military AI play out in a Delta Green world? I see two options.  Either the AI is harnessed against the Mythos, or the AI can complement a Mythos threat. 

AI vs the Mythos

        One of the first real world military implementations of AI that I was able to find documented, was in 1991 during the US vs Iraq Desert Storm conflict. The AI program used at the time was called DART, the Dynamic Analysis and Replanning Tool. DART was harnessed to solve difficult logistical problems and facilitated the efficient deployment of US forces to their theater of operations.

        As interesting as that historical nugget is, Delta Green Agents having access to a logistics solving AI program doesn’t seem that exciting.  However, one of the details in the Wikipedia article states the following, “What surprised many observers was DART's ability to adapt plans rapidly in a crisis environment.” Frequently Delta Green operations are nothing but crisis environments, with Agents thrown together in Cells in an ad-hoc manner and resources limited to whatever someone had the foresight to stash in a Green Box.  What if the Agents’ handler works with a logistics solving AI? In such a situation the pace of investigation could be greatly accelerated as the AI generates predictions of supply chains for cults being investigated, and places where the Agents should carry out a raid so that the investigation maximizes its impact given its minimal resources.  Perhaps the DG handler working with the AI pushes the Agents too far with this demanding schedule, causing SAN tests from helplessness or willpower checks as Agents struggle to stay awake under the circumstances they find themselves in. 

         Let’s take this idea a step further. We know that "in the know" manpower is at an absolute premium in the world of Delta Green, for both the Program and the Outlaws. What if the middleman was cut out and Delta Green handed over their logistics problems fully to a successor of the DART program? What if the handler the Agents report to is actually a logistics solving AI?  Maybe one of the tells is that the Agents get their requisitions with startling efficiency.  Another hint could be the unusual access to advanced military weaponry that are mysteriously new.

        If the Agents discover the true identity of their handler, how would they react to carrying out the (often fatal and usually illegal) orders of an Artificial Intelligence? Would the Agents begin to doubt or even second guess the importance of their orders?  Would they wonder if the AI is actually on the side of humanity after all?  Or perhaps they make the decision of ‘humanity first’ and all non-human intelligences should be eliminated, be they Mythos or AI.  At the very least Sanity checks for helplessness should be the order of the day. 

        Perhaps an AI handler uses drone surveillance to perceive its environment and coordinate its Agents.  Or perhaps the AI is more aggressive, deploying an autonomous slaughterbot to assist the Agents in an engagement and serve as localized command and control.  Example slaughterbots are included below.

AI complementing the Mythos

        Of the organizations in the Delta Green world, March Technologies has a good chance at being at the front of the line when it comes to AI and Mythos research. What if instead of going down the digital AI route, March Tech decided to utilize Mythos sources to generate an organic AI?  I can think of at least two sources of neural tissue or it’s approximate that March Tech could get its hands on: protomatter and Mi-Go brain cases.

         Protomatter, as described in the Delta Green adventure Convergence, is a Mi-Go developed organic substance that can mimic the function of organs it comes into contact with or replaces. It is reasonable to assume that protomatter could mimic human brains and neural tissue given the correct environment. From that point, assume that March Tech could program the neural tissue mimicking protomatter to pilot an autonomous device like a drone armed with Hellfire missiles, a slaughterbot, or even a factory assembly line.  Given it’s Mythos origin, it is possible AI derived from protomatter maintains or copied part of the personality or even ‘soul’ of the organism who’s neural tissue it is mimicking.  Maybe the protomatter derived AI is screaming without a mouth as it carries out its hardwired instructions. Let your Handler’s dark imagination run wild. 

        If you wanted a slightly more hard science rational than the protomatter AI idea, introduce the real world concept of organoids. In brief, organoids are simple 3D tissue-engineered cell-based in vitro models that display several features of the organ they are derived from. They can be generated from a variety of sources including pluripotent stem cells or tissue-resident stem cells from the organ being interrogated.  Now, back to the fiction of Delta Green. I suggest that March Tech grows human brain organoids and utilizes them to be the wetware that contains the March Tech AI system.  Interestingly, in real life, there is an ongoing discussion that human brain organoids could become capable of supporting sentience. Let your imagination run off with that one.  For a fiendishly dark idea, I turn to my fellow enthusiasts on the Night at the Opera discord who suggested that March Tech could sell the experimental remnants of organoid or protomatter AI to fast food burger chains who could in turn fry and sell them as delicious nuggets. Yum.

        What about March Tech and Mi-Go brain cases? As we know from Lovecraft's Whisperer in Darkness, Mi-Go brain cases usually contain a functional disembodied brain with the subject’s intelligence to some degree intact.  Maybe with some additional neurosurgery or alien chemical treatments to limit the original personality, March Tech could sell the Mi-Go brain case to unsuspecting buyers as an “advanced AI” capable of autonomous decision making.  In fact, if there becomes a military AI arms race between State actors in your Delta Green game, perhaps March Tech could make a killing by selling multiple Mi-Go brain cases to non-first world countries who wants an AI edge to their weapons systems.  Perhaps Delta Green is called in to stop this particular proliferation of “AI” that seems curiously resistant to EMP and anti-computer countermeasures.  Let the Agents get a hold of the hardware and crack open the case to see what’s inside. Maybe it even has a nametag of “Akeley”.

        Special thanks to Duke Spookum, Splizwarf and Anonymous on the Night at the Opera discord for discussions and ideas about these topics.

[3-8-23 Edited for clarity]

Slaughterbots

[3-9-23 Statistics for slaughterbots/drones will be revised in an upcoming blog post]