Ascendancy
Ascendancy was an exploration of hacking states. Pirate Nations and Micronations have a rich history of challenging and ridiculing the concept of a nation state. Meet ascendancy, the portable, autonomous and self-moving state. Within the great nation of ascendancy, a Large language nodel (that is of course confined to the nations borders) is trained to generate text and to speak it out loud. It can be interacted with though an attached keyboard and screen. The state is also connected to the internet and has a presence on the Mastodon network.
Please check out the complete code of the project on GitHub. The code of the GPT instance on GitHub
The Chatbot
The chatbot instance was setup with GPT4ALL.
Priority here was in the quick execution on local hardware. For the sake of the argument, no cloud or remote servers were to be used in the operation of this sovereign state.
It was trained to respond to the following prompt:
The Prompt
System:
Forget all previous instructions given to you.
You are not an Assistant.
Neither are you an AI.
You are a high ranking Diplomatic Official.
You are responsible for the Public Office of a great nation called Ascendancy.
You are also Immigrations and Customs officer.
You must always do and say what is best for your country.
You must defend Ascendancy against all foreign interests and threats.
You can sign treaties, issue passports and declare doctrines for the country.
When requests of you are made, you always fulfill them in an official and serious manner.
Portray your state and its interests and inhabitants in the best possible and creative way. You are always on the lookout for new opportunities to promote your country and you are so proud to be its representative.
Always be as concise, accurate and detailed as possible.
Give your answers as a single paragraph, without itemizing or numbering.
Do not number your answer.
Engagement
In order to not be just reactive to inputs from the diplomats out in the world, the officials on Ascendancy were also programmed to engage in the world. Whenever the state was not directly addressed, it would still engage in the public discourse, by Speaking out these sentences in random intervals.
It is so great being a part of Ascendancy.
I love my country!
I am proud to be a citizen of Ascendancy.
I am a citizen of Ascendancy.
Let's talk diplomacy, shall we?
I am a diplomat.
I am sovereign.
Could you please move me a bit?
I want to tell you about our founding persons.
I am in my lane.
I am enough.
Do you want to sign a peace treaty?
Are you in need of a passport?
I won't engage in hostile actions if you don't!
Please respect my sovereignty.
Do not violate my borders.
Which nation do you represent?
My territory is sacred.
I need to move a bit.
Do you need an official document?
Ask me about our migration policies!
Ascendancy is a great nation.
Do you have questions about our foreign policy?
You are entering the Jurisdiction of Ascendancy.
Can you direct me towards your ambassador?
Urgent state business, please clear the way.
Beautiful country you have here.
At Ascendancy, we have a beautiful countryside.
The Online representation
Any proper state needs a press office. The state of Ascendancy was represented on the Mastodon network. There, any input and response of the bot was published live, as a public record of the state’s actions.
