Name: Operation Soaring Sun
Could a rogue algorithm really be wreaking havoc on a private island, or is something else at play?
The mission:
- Unusual activity on a private island in the Bahamas, owned by a cryptocurrency community.
- Delta Green interest was triggered by a newly formed Reddit account writing an expose in a community known as r/singularity- about an advanced AI developed on the island which has started to kill islanders.
- A team is brought to the island, with the cover of pretending to be investors keen to purchase high volumes of the island’s cryptocurrency DAN. They are welcomed warmly as the value of the currency has hit lows.
- The principal point of contact is ‘tech bro’ millionaire Alfred Wilson, and the AI project lead Dr Aaron Stone
- The team is instructed to identify if the threat is supernatural and address any such threat with extreme prejudice.
The reality:
The automating algorithm developed by Dr Stone does not work, and he lacks the capabilities to deliver on his boss' vision. Rather than the illusion Stone has attempted to create around supervised learning - he is manually triggering actions. This paired with off-the-shelf smart home technologies is being used to mislead islanders, and prospective investors. There is nothing unnatural about the situation.
Stone decides to fake abnormalities, wrapped in a narrative around AI's existential threat - hoping this deters his boss from continuing the project, whilst retaining his false credentials. With his boss pushing forward with the project, Dr Stone has been escalating the acts the AI is supposedly "committing", personally triggering the actions through his console.
The island:
Positioned as a Decentralized Autonomous Nation - DAN is an attractive island, but one littered in partial construction. The fall in value of the cryptocurrency - nominally used to vote on governance- has led to the population of the island limited to around 30 stakeholders, and 10 members of staff housed in a grandiose facility owned by a millionaire 'tech bro' Alfred Williamson, better known by his Reddit account "Alfa W". Agents seeking information may find the following:
- Governance on the island has sharply consolidated as AW has bought up sold DAN tokens, this has generated tensions as only his decisions are meaningful.
- AW, inspired by ChatGPT, is obsessed with automating services on the island - starting with his own facility. The timeline for the facility becoming entirely autonomous has kept being pushed back.
- A facility scientist was found dead crushed by heavy machinery he was inspecting.
- AW believes that the scientist was killed by islanders frustrated by his growing control of the island. Stone when pushed will indicate that they have seen some interference with the technology, and suspects that someone on the island is hacking into devices.
Many of the Islanders are anti-government libertarians, almost all of which are armed and a notable portion heavily invested in conspiracy theories. This means that any suspicion that the Agents are undercover agents will generate active hostility, and can rapidly descend into violence. It also means that the islanders can easily lead Agents astray, accusing other islanders of being linked to Big Tech, or the CIA for example. Handlers should try as far as possible to create complex, three dimensional characters to interact with- setting up a spread of possible suspects.
If Stone becomes aware that the Agents are undercover- a risk on an island laced with sensors to drive automation efforts- he may attempt to subtly inform the most extreme anti-government elements. Stone is unable to do so directly, as his level of direct control over the technology is something he is keen to disguise.
The facility:
A beautiful minimalist structure in an attractive resort, the facility appears entirely voice activated- lacking any handles, levers or control knobs. Alfa W and Stone are keen to restrict access to the controlled AI development area within the facility, and will attempt to restrict the team as far as possible to leisure activities or staged interviews and presentations. Alfa W will require convincing, but can overrule Stone's attempts to prioritize the protection of his IP.
Stone rarely leaves his desk within his personal access-controlled office, and tries to restrict any in-person interactions to as limited a time as possible. He will attempt to bury the agents in unhelpful paperwork and research papers, but will frequently provide seemingly helpful but misleading leads.
From the evening of the first night the agents will start to struggle with escalating challenges - from automated doors attempting to crush them, to showers heating up to dangerous levels to rooms dropping to sub zero temperatures. These challenges grow more dangerous depending on how challenged Stone feels, and the risk he perceives from the group. Give significant flexibility in how these challenges can be addressed - brute force, hacking sensors or constitution checks to withstand the pain for example. As the crushed scientist ‘discovered’ heavy machinery in particular, which is dotted across the island on AW’s construction projects, represents significant risk.
Clues:
Stone is a hugely capable liar and manipulator, and even successful HUMINT checks should initially be used to provide relevant, but not critical information. A realization that Stone is not telling the whole truth could lead to;
- A reveal that Stone and the dead scientist were lovers, and that Stone is taking their loss very hard.
- A reveal that Stone’s automating algorithm has not yet been programmed to autonomously control heavy machinery, a reveal which may set the basis for Stone’s hacking pretense.
Hints that the AI narrative does not hold up can come from:
- Stone has a very well falsified CV with false but authentic seeming references and no social media profile- but he over-stretches in two areas, a pretense at being part of the original LLM transformer model team at Google which can be easily checked, and his doctorate, where MIT will not validate his claims.
- Any agent with a successful computer science can figure out the interface is just an open-source conversational chatbot, instructed to pretend it can enact actions, if they gain access to Stone's code repository.
- The incidents usually take place outside of the working hours for the majority of Stone's team- when he is least likely to be interrupted- so outside of 9-5pm. The code itself is not on a shared repository, but sits personally on Stone’s desktop.
- The discovery that Stone himself is the whistleblower. This can be gained by accessing his electronic devices - he has Reddit bookmarked- and he may let slip that he found out about the community via Reddit.
- The other scientists on the island are woefully underqualified, with little understanding of what Stone is engaging in. Their roles are limited to curating video data, fitting sensors and other low value administrative activities.
- Stone has started to drink heavily at night, although almost always alone in his office. In his drunken state it is easier to extract password backup answers, or have him admit that the project was much harder than he expected it would be. He is very depressed about the loss of his partner.
- Much of the simple voice-activated capabilities are commercially-available smart house technologies, and not proprietary capabilities provided by Stone.
- The crushed scientist has left a notepad under his bed. The notepad contains a lot of literotica, but also some aborted diary entries. The diary makes it clear that the scientist starts to suspect that the AI is not as sophisticated as Stone makes it out to be, that they are an on and off couple and that he was considering letting AW know Stone was misleading him following a recent argument.
- Islanders have little incentive in wanting to end AW’s automation plans, seeing the success of the project as key in driving interest in the island, and therefore rejuvenating the cryptocurrency project.
Resolution:
Stone’s death, or having his desktop made inaccessible in any way, will end the attacks. Destroying the desktop, or being caught incapacitating Stone, without Stone’s lies being uncovered will lead to a violent response from islanders, and require the agents escaping. The principal means to escape will be the marina, the most densely populated section of the island.
The escalating challenges that Agents face should be hard to overcome by the fourth night, and made particularly difficult if they continue to stay in the facility itself.
Appendix
Dr Aaron Stone
STR 8 CON 10 DEX 15 INT 16 POW 8 CHA 16 HP 10 WP 8 SAN 40 BREAKING POINT 32 SKILLS: Alertness 40%, Computer Science 70%, Criminology 40%, Driving 50%, Law 30%, Persuade 70%, Science (Physics) 50%.
Credits
Operation Soaring Sun was written by Alex Johnston for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ho3JhMgKEAho90CVoVqPRSM9_0LhggCO3mPSyFST6iI/edit