Quasi-AI

Quasi-AI (Artificial Intelligence), or QAI, is an advanced, adaptable helping program with full heuristic (learning) capabilities. QAIs are an important tool for Operations Officers, acting as independent software agents ferreting out malicious code, assisting with programming and scheduling and generally functioning as an assistant and secretary to an Ops Officer.

The technology behind the QAIs is borderline illegal, skirting the Federation prohibitions against artificial intelligences by limiting certain aspects of the programs flexibility and sealing off some of the program's ability to learn. Needless to say, some Ops Officers devise work arounds for these limits, naturally such activities are officially disproved of, but some how they continue.

Most Ops Officers construct their personal QAI during their last year of computer programming at the Academy. The QAI built by each cadet tends to be highly personal to each person, it is joked that an Ops Officer's QAI is "their id made code", some style theirs after their favorite historical or fictional characters, others choose even more idiosyncratic avatars for their QAI. Some Officers set their QAIs aside after the Academy, others neuter them down to simple scheduling/secretarial programs, but most Ops Officers keep them around as vital and useful assistants.

Ops Officers rarely share the existence of their QAI (or QAIs in general) outside of the circle of Operations as they tend to make some people uncomfortable. Those who work with Operations know that the QAIs exist but very few realize how close to being full AIs some of them have become.