Timothy Barretto
Timothy Barretto, often known as the father of modern synthetic intelligence, was a computer scientist and Research Director at the Advanced Robotics division of Küiser Laboratories. His Tartarus SI core technology was the first artificial system built by humanity to house consciousness. He was originally part of the "Pioneers" faction of scientists within Küiser.
Timothy Barretto | |
|---|---|
| Species | Human |
| Born | May 13, 1981 Chesterton, Cambridge, Great Britain |
| Died | September 11, 2112 (aged 131) Osaka, Japan |
| Citizenship | |
| Education | University of Cambridge |
| Occupation | Research director |
| Employers |
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He planned and engineered NEXUS, the first truly sapient artificial intelligence based on his work on the Tartarus core, and later, the ALEX project, intended to put downsized versions of the cores into mobile, humanoid android bodies. He also invented the Isolated Carpark Maze, a system for training and refining android AI; as well as Subject Recovery Machines, used as obstacles for androids to overcome and to automate part of the training simulation.
Personality
Dr. Barretto was a tall, thin, caucasian British scientist. He wore glasses, and had a short goatee. He was known to have a short temper when frustrated, and in academia was jokingly known by faculty and students as “Destroyer of Rulers” for the numerous occasions he slammed wooden rulers against desks in anger, shattering them.
History
Cambridge tenure
Alongside those who went on to become some of the best in the industry, including Metatron CEO Dr. Sirus Syn and Black Research director Dr. Shannon Taylor, Dr. Barretto earned degrees in both advanced neuroscience and robotics at the University of Cambridge. Later, he began developing the foundational technology that would later become the Tartarus AI system.
Barretto Industries
In 2005, Dr. Barretto left his position at Cambridge and founded a small company called Barretto Industries to develop his Tartarus technology into a functional product, and later patent the system. The company, running out of a small unit in the city’s industrial park, never accumulated much acclaim or went commercial, but finally succeeded in developing the technology Barretto sought after by 2011.
Küiser employment
In 2012, Küiser hired Barretto after he signed a deal to sell Barretto Industries, and his patented Tartarus technology, to the corporation. He would continue to develop and refine the technology at Küiser throughout the 2010s, with the full backing of a research team and the company’s extensive finances.
2014 marked a significant advancement in his career as the successful demonstration of a working Tartarus prototype earned him a promotion to Head of Advanced Robotics. The next year he started working on NEXUS, and after its success pitched the idea of the ALEX project. Originally opposed to his technology’s use for military purposes, he managed to be begrudgingly won over by Küiser leadership after a heated series of debates.
Barretto continued to lead the project up until the Fort Laurent incident. After it occurred, the following MoD investigation resulted in Barretto scheduled to be replaced as project lead, though the Acquisition War hit the company before he would formally be fired.
Acquisition War & Post-War
During the Küiser Acquisition War, Dr. Barretto was perpetrator of the idea to free an ALEX unit carrying the project data before destroying all of the local copies, ensuring the data wouldn't fall into the hands of the Helios Corporation. Though many of his colleagues were killed by Helios forces, Dr. Barretto managed to survive and evade capture, and went into hiding in Hamburg, staying hidden until 12 years later, when the London Revolution resulted in the death of Helios' CEO, Melissa Wallis, and the destruction of the Helios Private Military Corps.
After emerging from hiding, Barretto refused a job offer from Metatron, and instead joined Sakura Cybernetics, where he worked to refine and improve the PRISM project alongside the ALEX unit he helped escape.
Legacy
Dr. Barretto was a divisive figure during his life, both hailed for his pioneering work on critical sapient AI technology as well as criticised for his ethical recklessness in the development of SRMs and his department’s treatment of AI instances in the ALEX and NEXUS projects. After his passing, many became aware of his actions in the Acquisition War, and recognised that he had made a significant effort to rectify the mistakes he made in his past, and Vector commissioned a monument to honour him outside the Tokyo headquarters of Sakura Cybernetics.