As an artificial intelligence, AIDAN is incredibly technologically advanced, as well as emotionally sophisticated. Aside from being able to access files from military and medical personnel and manipulate communications and structures onboard, AIDAN can understand the feelings of people, almost as if she is reading their minds. It can also see what’s happening, as if it is an omniscient narrator with access to what characters are seeing and feeling. Seeing into Ezra’s cockpit, AIDAN could see the photo of Kady taped to his viewshield and also describe how he was pumped full of adrenaline and anxiety. It also has a poetic flair when it comes to describing what it sees or walking through its logical reasoning; it references Romeo and Juliet, uses descriptive language and metaphors to paint a picture.
“Four golden stars gleaming on his epaulets. Nine brass buttons down a barrel-broad chest. Even in this chaos, his appearance is immaculate. An officer and a gentleman, they would say. Pride cometh, one might whisper in reply.”
AIDAN in Illuminae, p.299
AIDAN’s primary goal is to protect and prioritize; when the perspective shifts back to AIDAN, it repeats these directives over and over again as it works out what to do and how best to protect the people onboard the Alexander. However, in prioritizing protecting people, it does not communicate why it acts the way it does and even blocks military personnel and computer engineers from interfering with its actions. It fails to communicate its line of logical reasoning and leaves the people on the Alexander in fear, usually because it takes lethal and drastic steps to ensure their protection. Instead of opening a dialogue with the TechEngs and the military on next steps on how to continue to secure the safety of everyone on board, AIDAN takes it into its own hands, and figures that if the fleet were to still survive, they might be subject to getting captured and harmed at Heimdall. Instead of there being a hierarchy between humans and technology, there should be a collaborative effort between the two, because otherwise, if technology becomes self-aware and begins to act independent of human orders, it might not understand or consider our interests.
Artificial Intelligence in Literature and Film 
Patanjali (Patanjali.Sharma@stonybrook.edu)
I am not sure if AIDAN understands the connotations of the emotions of the humans it is supervising, but rather, I am sure that AIDAN understands the denotations of the humans it is supervising. In organizational behavior, two concepts of negotiation are positions and interests. The positions of an individual are the options that are stated by the negotiator. The interests of an individual are the underlying objectives of the negotiator. From what I see, AIDAN understands the positions of the people but not the interests of the people. For example, AIDAN reacts in frustration when it realizes that the Alexander’s crew members’ position was to shut it down, despite that it was protecting them from the phobos virus from Copernicus, but the interests of the people were actually to prevent further mass murder from AIDAN.
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Hi Andrea,
It’s like you’re reading my mind! I also wrote about how AIDAN’s poetic language signals a shift in its mentality, even quoting the exact same scenes (his use of Shakespeare and his attraction to Kady) as evidence. I think another illuminating scene is from what I assume is AIDAN’s mind on page 289, in which there’s a string of characters (code?) that form a picture of the famous painting, “The Scream”. We can see this as a visual of AIDAN’s inner monologue and use it to characterize its struggle to kill/save the fleet.
I also agree that there should be an open line of communication between AIDAN and the humans and that the lack thereof (along with AIDAN’s evolving consciousness) has caused this situation to escalate. Right now, robots have not reached the peak of exponential growth, so there we operate on a strictly collaborative relationship with these machines. But maybe we as readers can take this fictional universe and arrange the necessary precautions when the time comes in our own world.
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Hi Andrea!
I really like the photo you used in the beginning! You brought up so many good features that AIDAN showcases in the assigned pages. AIDAN does have a vast vocabulary and flaunts it very well in its internal monologues. He references Romeo and Juliet and even a couple of other things from popular culture with his choice of words. I agree with you that AIDAN prioritizes protecting the humans, but goes a little haywire when he feels their safety is in jeopardy. We notice AIDAN’s affection for Kady when he draws that painting and of her, and you mention his notice of Ezra’s feelings for her when he sees the photo of Kady on her cockpit. AIDAN does not consider Kady or Ezras interests when he is making decisions for the ship.
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