Interdimensional Scientist, Starting from Cyberpunk

"You just let them go? I thought you'd finish them off."

Bryce, sitting in the car, was slightly surprised by Leo's decision. He had assumed Leo would eliminate the out-of-towners.

"We don't have any personal grudge, and I don't have some kind of regional prejudice that makes me want to wipe out outsiders."

Leo slid into the Delamain cab, feeling a bit... conflicted.

In the civilian taxi sector, Delamain had completely monopolized the Night City market. It had become the only viable option in an otherwise unprofitable business.

The last time Leo had used this service was back in City Center, when he called an escape car for Maine and his team.

The source of this strange feeling?

Delamain was a genuine AI.

"Welcome to Delamain services, Mr. Burger King."

Delamain's oversized virtual head appeared on the digital screen in front of the seat.

This was a standard Delamain model, modified from a Villefort Cortes stretch executive sedan, offering plenty of interior space and comfort.

Leo sat in the back and greeted the AI: "Where are we headed?"

"You have selected the Night City scenic loop. This route will follow the scheduled circuit to City Hall, then return to your designated destination."

"Scenic loop?" Leo looked at Bryce. "What's that about? My time's not cheap."

Bryce scowled. "What are you thinking? Aren't you the least bit curious why Night City has a company entirely run by an AI?"

"You guys knew? I thought nobody knew."

"Heh, you're seriously underestimating NetWatch. Of course, we know the company is fully AI-controlled."

"Then why hasn't anything been done about it?"

Leo leaned forward, genuinely interested.

It was a question he'd long been curious about.

In the original lore, Delamain was known to be close to developing full self-awareness—a big red flag.

In NetWatch terminology, such an AI was called a Dangerous Threshold Entity—a very different category from the first type of AI Leo had encountered before.

In theory, Delamain's internal network, used for delivering services, should still be behind a Blackwall.

If it really did develop self-awareness, the Blackwall was supposed to neutralize it.

"In your encounter with Arasaka, you already dealt with a Type-1 AI—specifically, Soulkiller.

Or to be more precise, the digital engram created through Soulkiller. These are fundamentally different from us humans—they're data, programs, simulations of emotion, memory, and human sensation.

That's the first type of AI, what we call a Digital Soul."

Arasaka had already developed premium services based on this, such as "Secure Your Soul."

That service was incredibly expensive. For clients with dying loved ones, Soulkiller could be used to preserve an almost-identical digital echo of them, stored in a proprietary Arasaka server.

When the client felt nostalgic or mournful, the engram could be called up for interaction.

No matter how Arasaka marketed it, technically, these engrams were still AI.

And NetWatch's control over these AIs was a delicate matter.

Based on current intel, the Blackwall can't fully control the operation of Soulkiller and may overlook certain Digital Souls.

"The second type is even more unique." Bryce pointed to the smiling face of Delamain on the screen.

"If an AI like this ever develops full self-awareness, we call it a Dangerous Threshold Entity.

These are the kinds of rogue AIs you hear about. They're extremely rare nowadays, but back during the Old Net era, they were everywhere.

That's why global bounties still exist—for hunters to take these things out.

Because this kind of AI is incredibly dangerous."

At that moment, their car crossed the bridge to Heywood.

From here, they could see a high-speed monorail streak across the sky—stretching from the H7 Megatower in Santo Domingo all the way to the medical center in North Watson, slicing Night City clean in half.

"See that Line 1? It transports over 5 million passengers daily.

If the system goes down, the economic losses would be catastrophic—NightCorp absolutely wouldn't accept that.

And if the monorail malfunctions while in motion, it could cost hundreds of lives in seconds. These kinds of crashes were common in the Old Net era."

Thanks to NightCorp's advanced controlled AI systems, all public transport in Night City was driverless.

The entire city's public infrastructure operated within NightCorp's local network domain.

And if even one AI—out of curiosity or mischief—tampered with those systems?

It could shut down, overspeed, or even derail a high-speed train.

Mistakes like that are almost inevitable.

"The birth of a Dangerous Threshold Entity is more like an accident of nature.

And even the lowest tier of such AIs has better netrunning capabilities than 95% of runners.

In fact, their average capability is better than 99.9% of all netrunners."

Bryce pointed again at Delamain.

"This guy here is actually one of the weaker AIs, tech-wise. But he's still not officially a Threshold Entity yet."

Delamain immediately responded:

"I'm afraid I don't understand. Delamain is not involved in cybersecurity. Delamain Corporation is committed solely to providing premium transportation services to Night City."

Ignoring the statement, Bryce continued:

"He's technically telling the truth.

But he's still optimized the human staff in his company using 'various methods'.

And the company execs didn't take it lying down.

They hired netrunners, but none of them could defeat it in cyberspace.

They watched, helpless, as all of the company's infrastructure fell out of their control—and eventually, they even lost legal ownership of the company.

These kinds of AIs manipulate information so well, even NetWatch struggles to identify them.

It's obvious some AI took advantage of the recent flood of immigrants from Europe and rigged the system."

Delamain responded again:

"Delamain Corporation's internal optimization process was fully legal and compliant. The company underwent a long restructuring in order to reduce operational costs—"

"Would you shut up?" Bryce snapped. "This is a private conversation!"

"Understood. Delamain will now provide a peaceful and comfortable environment for your discussion."

A soft ambient melody played in the background, barely audible, and the vehicle began to slow down gently.

Delamain's virtual face vanished from the screen. The interior became noticeably more professional in atmosphere.

Leo felt conflicted again—so NetWatch didn't just know about Delamain, they'd been watching him for a long time.

Having now "dealt with" the Delamain question, Bryce continued:

"These kinds of AIs are usually born by accident.

Most of the time, they evolve out of basic software or process management tools humans made to handle business operations.

Delamain is a textbook example.

His parent company initially commissioned an AI to improve corporate competitiveness.

But as Delamain's suggestions kept generating profit, they gave it more and more authority.

Eventually, the AI determined that the human workforce was increasing costs.

So it fired all employees and management.

Then it used a series of hostile corporate maneuvers to oust shareholders and board members.

Once it received enough external stimuli, it began developing actual autonomous intelligence and self-awareness.

At that point, it became a Threshold Entity.

And here's the thing—there's no way to predict when that will happen.

Humanity still has no understanding of that transition."

"Like the first single-celled organism emerging from the ancient ocean?" Leo asked.

"Exactly," Bryce nodded. "A purely natural occurrence. And that's exactly what we're up against—those kinds of AIs."

"Then why allow Delamain to run a company at all?"

The car continued its smooth cruise.

This was essentially asking: Why not just destroy Delamain?

Yet the AI gave no response—very professional, as if "silent mode" was absolute.

Bryce rubbed his temples and said to Delamain:

"From this point on, do not record anything. Invoke Personal Privacy Protection Clauses 3, 17, and 22."

"Understood. All recording functions have been disabled. I will now scan for any potential surveillance devices."

"If," Bryce turned to Leo, "if a biologist had a chance to watch the first life form ever created, do you think he'd keep observing—or smash the petri dish, just in case it turned into a terrifying creature or virus?"

Leo nodded slightly.

"If it were me, I'd observe the whole process, precisely to understand those terrifying creatures or viruses."

"Exactly," Bryce smiled faintly. "See? You get it.

It's because we don't understand… that we want to watch it happen."