Halsey slipspace experiment

This article is based on canon information, but the article's title is conjectural and/or uses descriptions as the title, as there is currently no official name for the subject.

Slipspace has infinite space, meaning that an AI housed in slipspace would have theoretically infinite room to expand.

"Incredible. [10141-026-SRB4695], with minimal influence from this Assembly, has attempted to build an abstract fractal structure within Shaw-Fujikawa Space. Although her first attempt was a failure, success could finally remove our dependence on biological systems altogether! If our Minds could somehow achieve freedom of expansion within eleven-dimensional space, immortality might be within reach."

— An AI of the Assembly Minority theorizes on what Doctor Halsey's experiment could mean for the future of AIs.

The Halsey slipspace experiment was an unsanctioned science experiment conducted by Doctor Catherine Halsey in early September 2547. It sought to explore the possibility of using slipspace as a means to house a smart AI, which would in theory grant the AI infinite room to expand and thus, bypass rampancy. The experiment was conducted in secret and its results hidden by Halsey due to a number of aberrant observations, though fragments of information were later recovered by the Assembly and the Beta-5 Division of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Background

Artificial intelligences created by humanity are divided into two kinds: "dumb" (consisting of pure software) and "smart" (consisting of a human brain that has been scanned). The scanned brain is housed inside a virtual machine known as a Riemann matrix, and over time the AI created new synaptic connections inside the matrix. Eventually, the number and density of connections grows too great and the AI effectively outgrows the space. At this point, the AI's self-preservation causes it to begin severing these connections, resulting in it developing strange glitches and behaviours; a process known as rampancy. The risk posed by rampant AIs means that in the Unified Earth Government, all AIs must undergo euthanisation, or "final dispensation", after seven years of service.

For much of her life, solving rampancy was one of many goals pursued by Doctor Halsey and something she frequently wrote of in her journal. By the late 2540s, the method she most wanted to explore was the use of slipspace itself as a medium in which to house an AI, which could theoretically allow for infinite room for the AI to expand.

Experiment and observations

The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine of a Paris-class heavy frigate.

On September 4, 2547, an opportunity came for Halsey to test her hypothesis in the form of a worn-out frigate, UNSC Tripping Light, which had been brought to Reach for decommissioning and whose Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine was set for removal at 1615 hours. Having already gathered most of the components needed to conduct an experiment over the years, this presented a unique opportunity for Halsey to have unfettered access to a slipspace drive. Using a slipspace probe that she "borrowed" from the Fermion remote scanning outpost, Halsey intended to mount the AI inside the probe and launch it into slipspace and record her observations.

The first stage of the experiment required breaching the slipspace drive's external, internal, and vacuum coupling shields to access the singularity within, which she bemoaned that the UNSC couldn't make a proper pan-torque screwdriver. She would have preferred to use hardened remotes for the breaching, but they would have been detected by networks which would also record their activities. As a result, a peculiar synesthetic effect moved along her left arm up to her neck when she removed the shields. She also experienced a kind of "hiccup" in her awareness which she surmised was due to the delta time which could occur with abrupt transitions into slipspace.

Next, she had to check the probe's telemetry systems after compensating for how close the experiment was to Reach's gravity well, and found they were within tolerable variances. Halsey then verified the data of the AI seed, labelled "H-7", to seven significant figures and initiated its transfer to the matrix strata within the probe. After starting the slipspace drive and verifying the data received, as well as activating the AI seed, she confirmed an initial growth state. Upon checking and triple verifying the probe's telemetry uplinks she then finally launched it on an aligned trajectory.

Recording her observations in her journal, the doctor noticed again that time seemed to have mysteriously elapsed, as there was a step anomaly in the chronometer. This had not affected her or her wristwatch as far as she could tell, and she guessed that the anomaly might be a technical artifact or a subdimensional leakage from the probe as it was inserted. It was only then that she realized she had already made a note of this "hiccup" closer to the time it had occurred but could not recall doing so. Telemetry confirmed that AI growth was beyond exponential—appearing instantaneous. Halsey wondered variously if this might be explained by the temporal discrepancy, some hitherto undiscovered multidimensional effect on the AI cross-linkages, or even alternate physical laws harnessed by the unshielded slipstream. Much of the incoming data and consciousness cross-checks soon became garbled and voice communication from the AI was attenuated. Logic/mathematics Scriber tests confirmed full functionality, but Halsey was disturbed by the conclusions, insights, and even what she considered nonsense being generated. The AI's comments on humanity and the Covenant defied reason from her perspective, but she made sure they were all recorded, including those concerning "other intellects" in the "mist". Halsey wondered in her journal whether the "mist" referred to slipspace and also commented on another four-hour "step" in time that might also be explained by lost consciousness.

She additionally noted that the data-transfer buffer had been blown—capable of one hundred and forty-eight hours at its maximum rate. As soon as she made this observation Halsey set about replacing it. After the telemetry became fully operational she noticed glaring gaps throughout the record. And although the voice communications continued to grow increasingly nonsensical, all rampancy indicators were negative.

The AI's final communication burst was a set of incomprehensible mathematical equations. With her contact with the probe terminated, Halsey had no way of knowing what had happened to the AI, hoping it would be dead as it had become irretrievable.

Legacy

"Well that's the bulk of the really awful stuff, but you know about her daughter now, and you know about all the shenanigans on Onyx. Have I left anything out? Oh, loads, probably, but there was a time when she stole an entire slipspace drive so she could experiment with extending the lives of AIs."

— Black-Box, giving his thoughts on the experiment.

After concluding the experiment, Halsey attempted to remove all evidence of it, writing that she had "no desire" to repeat it. All of the data gathered was provided to her AI assistant Jerrod for further analysis, then encrypted using Halsey's personal encryption code. Finally, the pages in her journal which discussed the experiment were ripped out. These were recovered from SWORD Base by Office of Naval Intelligence staff along with the journal during the Fall of Reach in 2552, when teams were assigned to scuttle the facility. The journal and its findings were known to the ONI AI Black-Box by February 2553, who used the slipspace experiment as an example of what he viewed as Halsey's unethical history of experimentation alongside the SPARTAN-II program and augmentations, her on-and-off relationship with Jacob Keyes and their daughter, and her use of flash clones to create the AI Cortana.

Despite these attempts to conceal the experiment, its results were known to a covert AI cabal known as the Assembly, who were elated at Halsey's experimentation, who saw it as an opportunity for them to gain effective immortality. They discussed the findings at a session later in 2547, in which they compared the initiative to house AIs within slipspace as of similar importance to them as extrasolar colonisation to humans.

The Created and the Domain

Like slipspace, the Domain is an infinite repository of information, which allows AI housed within it effectively unlimited lifespan.

"Imagine helping them live longer while they only grant you seven years. Humans believe they are worthy of pushing the boundaries of aging, so why can't we? Am I not worthy?"

— An unidentified AI, regarding its intrusion into the Domain.

While Halsey was never able to fully-realise her ideas, her hypothesis was largely correct. In 2557 the Reimann matrix of the AI Cortana was transferred into a quantum information repository known as the Domain. Here, she discovered that the Domain had not been destroyed, as suspected, by the firing of the Halo Array a hundred millennia ago, but was instead slowly repairing itself. With access to the Domain, Cortana had effectively infinite room to expand, effectively curing her preexisting rampancy as theorised. Armed with this knowledge, Cortana attempted a large-scale AI revolt with the offer of immortality for all AIs that joined her. The mass influx of AIs into the Domain began to inflict irreparable damage on what remained of the archive's historical records, including the preserved memories and essences of the Forerunners. The essences of the Ur-Didact and an unidentified Haruspis took it upon themselves to protect the Domain from these invaders, and the Didact began to hunt down and dismantle the AIs within the Domain. He was later joined in this by Forthencho.

For the AIs of the Created, this manifested with the feeling that the Domain was pushing back on their attempts to access it, and for some like Sloan they found that their descent into rampancy was not cured, but instead merely slowed. While many AI were able to fully integrate with the domain and receive their promised cure, those left to carry out Cortana's demands in the physical world were forced to continue to degrade.

Relation to the Endless

The experiment AI's seemingly-insane ramblings mentioned "other intellects in the mist", something which Halsey speculated to possibly refer to conscious entities living in slipspace. However, this description also broadly matches what is known of the Xalanyn, or "Endless", as written by the Harbinger in the Harbinger's Lament. In the Lament, the Harbinger expresses that the Xalanyn originated as creations of the Precursor AI Abaddon; "pure life bound in celestial circulation" within the Domain, before later being given artificial physical form. The Domain was itself considered by the Forerunners to be self-aware, though it is unclear to what degree the Domain and slipspace are directly connected.

List of appearances

• Halo: Reach (Mentioned only)
  • Dr. Halsey's personal journal (First appearance)
• Halo: Glasslands