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Is a servo skull AI? I mean AI is heresy in the Imperium, but then how do they do there jobs? Do they use what's left over of the persons brain and are sentient? Or do they just do stuff as programmed? I looked it up in the lexicanum and it doesn't specifically say,.

I always thought that the "machine spirit" of more advanced weapons like titans and land raiders (also presumably servo skulls) is in fact an AI, perhaps somehow mixed with some degree of humanity like a living brain somewhere in there or something. I know that somewhere it is said that titans have a very angry machine spirit that lusts for blood and is nearly impossible to control (hence the pilots for titans can be taken from anywhere by the mechanicus).

Servo Skulls contain lobotomised brains, programmed to specific limited functions.

The whole point of Servo Skulls and Servitors is to have robot-style workers without having to have robots. So they just use robotic parts with organic control systems.

To expand on the machine spirit = AI thing, iirc that's partially correct. However, it's slaved to a human brain to still have human control.

-Loki- wrote:To expand on the machine spirit = AI thing, iirc that's partially correct. However, it's slaved to a human brain to still have human control.

Does the servo skull brain retain sentience, or memories? Does it remember who it was?

Makarov wrote:

-Loki- wrote:To expand on the machine spirit = AI thing, iirc that's partially correct. However, it's slaved to a human brain to still have human control.

Does the servo skull brain retain sentience, or memories? Does it remember who it was?

I think the lobotomy procedure that all servitors and servo skulls go through strips them of personality, memories, etc. The only thing that remains intact is the ability to carry out one or two mindless, repetitive tasks. Thus, it is
a punishment for criminals, dissidents, or those who fail in some respects (Space Marines lobotomize recruits that don't pass muster I believe).

I do not think so, because as Insaniak also said:

insaniak wrote:Servo Skulls contain lobotomised brains, programmed to specific limited functions.

I read "Titanicus" and in there they have a small part about a Titan crew(a moditari{sp}) who lost his mind, he eventually was use as a servitor in a garden and he could recall some memories. I am not sure if he was a "full" servitor, or just had his brain fried when his titan died, and the backwash of the death rushed through the manifold to scramble his brain.

Servitors are completely mind wiped people who have implants and are basically programmed to do a certain task and that's all they're capable of. So just above mindless and just below thinking for themselves, hence not ai.

J99Pwrangler wrote:I read "Titanicus" and in there they have a small part about a Titan crew(a moditari{sp}) who lost his mind, he eventually was use as a servitor in a garden and he could recall some memories. I am not sure if he was a "full" servitor, or just had his brain fried when his titan died, and the backwash of the death rushed through the manifold to scramble his brain.

He just had a scrambled brain...
They mention the fact that the feedback from a titan's death is really harsh somewhere else in the book...

Makarov wrote:

-Loki- wrote:To expand on the machine spirit = AI thing, iirc that's partially correct. However, it's slaved to a human brain to still have human control.

Does the servo skull brain retain sentience, or memories? Does it remember who it was?

No. A properly-prepared servitor has no idea that it even exists, it's just a robot that uses an organic brain (sometimes humans, but not all servitors were humans originally) as its CPU. All sense of self, sentience, etc is wiped away, leaving only room for prepared programming engrams to be put into the mind for it to fulfill its functions.

Becoming a servo-skull is generally a post-mortem honor for Adepts and Scribes of the Mechanicus or the Administratum, sometimes of the Ecclesiarchy, too.

Servitors occasionally can have lapses as the memories come back, as can all the organic componants of the Imperiums machines. Of course the memories will be fragmented and not make much sense. Servitors are often made from criminals. The Death Penelty is reserved for things that involve chaos taint. Servitorization is a punishement worse then death.

As such these parts are routinely mind wiped to keep them functioning properly.

Servo skulls and servitors are two very different things. Becoming a servitor is a punishment. Getting your head used for a servo skull is usually considered an honor.

Makarov wrote:Is a servo skull AI? I mean AI is heresy in the Imperium, but then how do they do there jobs? Do they use what's left over of the persons brain and are sentient? Or do they just do stuff as programmed? I looked it up in the lexicanum and it doesn't specifically say,.

Servo skulls and servitors have no choice, they work within defined program limits, what defines true AI (eg iron men), is the ability to chose. This manifests itself in the fact that the AI realise they don't want to be slaves to punny weak humans so will revolt (a very common sci-fi storyline). The closest to AI tech within the IoM, are vehicles with true machine spirits such as titans and land raiders due to the complex organic components.