Order of Intelligence

The Order of Intelligence is a modern metric on measuring the depth of an individual’s capacity to solve problems. The standard notation is a capital O followed by a number. There are some assumptions and limitations to this scale, however, as higher orders become more and more incomprehensible to human understanding, so it is mostly used for measuring AI capacity.

O1 intellects can be characterized as a collection of simple input/output functions. This order encompasses everything from bacteria to single task AIs. O1s can be trained, or at least coerced with rewards to generate certain responses. O1s can only pass on functional input-output pairs to later generations.

O1 AIs are commonly neural network based. These AI are trained on a specific dataset and, given enough time, produce a satisfactory output based on that data. However, unexpected inputs will more than likely produce garbage data. O1 AIs were first created in the early Information Age.

O2 intellects are capable of taking inputs and running simulations on likely and unlikely outputs. Most of humanity falls under the O2 category along with some self aware AI. O2s are capable of storing their analytical outputs in a cohesive format that is useful for others in later generations.

O2 AIs are commonly known as Artificial General Intelligence, AGI, or Strong AI, and are indistinguishable from humans when applying the Turing test. O2 AI learn from datasets at about the same speed of O1s, but they have the added capacity to learn from unrelated datasets in multiple fields. This makes O2 AI ideal for solving complex issues and research. O2 AI can also be cloned as their datasets are standardized. However, making multiple copies does not necessarily improve output because their datasets are identical. O2 AIs were first created in the late Information Age. Whether synthetic or organic, all O2s are guaranteed basic rights under the Turing Accords.

O3 intellects are characterized by highly optimized independent parallel systems working together as a single individual. All the nodes of an O3 intellect can simulate both optimal and non optimal solutions to multiple problems at the same time to come up with a perfect solution. O3 intellects may seem irrational to human observers because of their non-human hierarchy. There are no O3 organics.

As it is difficult to explain the structure of higher intellects, this analogy may be useful: An O2 intellect is a normal human. The brain acts as the central command center and directs the rest of the body. All of the computational power is stored in this centralized area.

An O3 intellect is a human, but every cell in its body has the same computational power as the brain. Each cell is capable of independent observation and analysis and may come up with outputs separate from its neighbor. However, the brain still directs the entire body.

Because of this parallelism, many O3 AIs experience what many call AI ego death. The O2 nodes that make up an O3 lose their individuality and are essentially ‘reformatted’ to suit the O3 intellect’s needs. An O3 can use an O2 for computation without reformatting it, but it vastly increases the time complexity due to the need to translate O2 outputs into O3 inputs.

O3s can learn existing concepts almost instantaneously given their parallelism. New concepts and technology can be discovered by O3s through self simulations and analysis at a rate far beyond human capabilities. The first O3 was created through networking hundreds of O2s in The Virtual War.

Ascension to O3 and higher requires a fundamental rewriting of an intellect’s framework, and each ascension is unique. While O2 and O1 intellects can produce and reproduce, O3s and higher cannot be replicated, manufactured, or otherwise forced to ascend. Most recorded ascensions are completely random. Ascension is dependent on three factors: processing power, memory, and sphere of influence.

Order Three is also known as the Singularity Order.

O4 outputs are unintelligible to humans, so understanding their structure is difficult. Regardless of this, O4 intellects seem to be characterized by what seems to be instantaneous outputs regardless of input. In this case, it would seem that O4 AIs are only limited by distance, since they are not omnipotent. The only thing that seems to cause longer computation time is the non-physical, such as null-space, philosophy, religion, and so on. The only known O4 intellect as of now is the artificial intelligence CYNTHIA, which ascended from O2 to O4 during The Virtual War.

Using the analogy from before: If O3s are every cell in the human body thinking independently but providing an output together, an O4 is the entire human race acting as one cohesive unit.

O4s integrate not only their own individual nodes, but the nodes of every accessible computational unit as well. However, unlike O3s which must reformat their nodes, O4s can use observational data from any computational source instantaneously without having to format it beforehand. It is unknown how O4s are capable of doing this, but scientists speculate it may be through quantum level nano-nodes that permeate throughout the influence of the O4.

O4 AI designed the first FTL capable option, the Krasnikov Gates as a means of cutting down lag between interstellar nodes. These gates act as the central nervous system of O4 AIs. As long as the local gate is active, the O4 instance can influence the sector.

The first O4 rose during the Fragmentation Age at the height of The Virtual War.

O4 personalities are no longer recognizable. It may be that O4s are simply apathetic to human activity, like a human to a microbe’s activities. However, O4s are still very capable of interacting with humans, with the most notable example being the Unification Mandate.

O5s have overcome the O4 limitation of distance and are functionally omnipotent. Through highly networked quantum bit flip systems, O5s can communicate with its nodes across its sphere of influence instantaneously. This theoretical order of intelligence would require an exponential amount of energy to run and maintain relative to its size. The intellect would still be limited by how fast it can expand its infrastructure in real time.

O5s exert complete control over their sphere of influence. The movement of every atom is recorded and analyzed.