T-AI

This article is about . For other uses of "Ai", see Ai (disambiguation)|The name or term "Ai" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Ai (disambiguation).}}
T-AI is an Autobot computer from the Robots in Disguise continuity family.
I, am, your sing-ing tele-gram! *BANG!*

T-AI (pronounced "tie", short for Tactical Artificial Intelligence) is the Autobots' main computer system. She keeps tabs on events across Earth, coordinates Autobot forces across the globe, maintains the elaborate Global Space Bridge network, and generally keeps things running smoothly at the base... or as smoothly as possible considering the variety of odd personalities that make up the Autobot ranks. She is an incredibly advanced computer that displays distinct emotions, self-awareness, a sense of humor, and—perhaps most notably—the ability to lose her patience. She is quick to berate verbally any Autobot found slacking off or doing something dumb.

T-AI manifests herself with a holographic avatar, taking the form of a young human girl in a maroon uniform similar to a Japanese policewoman's. It's her own choice what the avatar looks like but why she's chosen to look like a human (before any humans had visited the Autobot HQ!) is something you'd have to ask her.<ref>Ask Vector Prime, 5th September 2015: "The holographic interface she chooses is entirely at her discretion. As for why she chooses to appear human, you would have to ask her. I am not going to speculate as to her motivation."</ref>

She is reportedly the "daughter" of Teletraan I.<ref>"I'm T-AI, Tactical Artificial Intelligence system. Daughter of the Teletraan I computer program." An Explosive Situation</ref>

Fiction

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Cartoon continuity

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2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon

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Voice actor: Sandy Fox (English), Rebecca Forstadt (English, "A Test of Metal" only), Chieko Higuchi (Japanese){{#if: Ana Lobo (Latin American Spanish), Federica De Bortoli (Italian), Ana Lúcia Menezes (Brazilian Portuguese), Lee Yong-sun (Korean)|, Ana Lobo (Latin American Spanish), Federica De Bortoli (Italian), Ana Lúcia Menezes (Brazilian Portuguese), Lee Yong-sun (Korean)}}
Wait till you hear this, ha ha! I just saw Megatron! He kidnapped your father, ha ha! We're in a lot of trouble!

T-AI's first major action on Earth was to initiate Battle Protocol and send the Autobot Brothers to New York City. Battle Protocol! A short time later, Optimus Prime brought Koji Onishi to visit the base—Koji's father had been kidnapped by Megatron. On being introduced to T-AI, Koji attempted to shake hands with her and fell through the holographic projection. The boy stuck around with T-AI to monitor the currently-developing situation—the Predacons were trying to steal an explosive device from a car. An Explosive Situation

Prepare to fast-forward!

T-AI would continue to monitor odd goings-on, such as a series of suspicious train wrecks which turned out to have been caused by the Predacons. Bullet Train to the Rescue She also helped deploy the Spychangers when the Predacons made an attempt at stealing a Plutonium Energy Generator. Spychangers to the Rescue The only Autobot she tended to have problems with was Side Burn, a notorious slacker who would often be out chasing red sports cars rather than go to the assignments given to him. It notably took some doing to get Side-Burn to go on the next mission. Optimus had requested statistic on the area east of Zuma Point, where Koji was stranded in a submersible pod. T-AI set up the global space bridge to bring both Optimus and the Autobot Brothers as close to Koji's location as possible. Partway through the rescue operation, she contacted Koji to get an update on the situation. Learning that Koji's pod was still operational despite the damage it had sustained, she attempted to penetrate the ship's network with her remote functions. Uncovering which systems were down, she sent X-Brawn to repair the ship while Sideburn and Prowl helped Optimus deal with Sky-Byte. Thanks to her instructions, the rescue mission was a success. The Hunt for Black Pyramid

On one occasion Side Burn turned out to be actually doing something useful—exploring some ruins with Koji. As a result of this adventure, a computer microchip owned by Doctor Onishi was discovered, and T-AI set about extracting information from it. The Secret of the Ruins

It wasn't unusual for Side Burn to cut off contact altogether, which is probably why T-AI didn't immediately panic when he was captured by the Predacons. Once Prowl and X-Brawn alerted her to the situation, T-AI dispatched the Spychangers to assist in rescuing both Side Burn and Optimus. Sideburn's Obsession

Some time later, T-AI informed Prime of the theft of an unremarkable disc from Doctor Yoshimoto. Optimus was suspicious that the disc might contain important information pertaining to Doctor Onishi. T-AI summoned the Autobot Brothers for the mission at hand. Later into the mission she helped track the D512 engine as it headed towards the ocean, and directed Team Bullet Train to its destination. Secret Weapon: D-5

On another occasion one of the Spychangers, Mirage appeared to have left the Autobot ranks but in reality had pretended to defect and had located Megatron's "Mega-Laser Cannon". T-AI was able to extend the Global Space Bridge, allowing the Spychangers to use the sphere formation to destroy the laser. Mirage's Betrayal

When new Autobot arrival Skid-Z went missing, T-AI was able to download his scanner log and determine that, as suspected, the Autobot had become contaminated with Auggie Cahnay's psychotropic energy, giving him the urge to compete in races. She warned the other Autobots that they needed to get Skid-Z back to headquarters for decontamination or he would burn out his circuits. Skid Z's Choice Tow-Line's introduction didn't go much better. Shortly after his arrival, T-AI lost contact with Side Burn, X-Brawn and Rapid Run—Tow-Line had gone renegade and abducted the trio. She coordinated with Optimus and Prowl to track down the rogue Autobot. Tow-Line Goes Haywire

Snotty beamed me twice last night. It was wonderful.

Puzzled by the Predacons' interest in statues, T-AI dispatched the Autobot Brothers to the Cave of the Dragon, which Koji had a hunch was involved. There Side Burn encountered a giant moving statue, which T-AI was able to reveal was a special effect created by a film crew working there. As it turned out the cave had another secret, the first of seven Cybertronian artifacts called O-Parts. The Ultimate Robot Warrior Shortly after the discovery, T-AI called all of the Autobots back to base to review footage of their past missions and attempt to work out where the Predacon base was hidden. Hope for the Future

T-AI was able to unlock more information from Dr. Onishi's microchip, pointing the Autobots to Castle Peak, where they discovered the wreck of an Autobot spacecraft. After Megatron stole the six protoforms from inside it, T-AI was able to track him to McKinley Army Base and alert Optimus, though ultimately Megatron was able to reformat the protoforms into Decepticons. The Decepticons

After the destruction of a dam by the Decepticons, T-AI sent the Autobot Brothers to patrol Sherman Dam and soon lost contact with them. Once Optimus arrived at the dam, T-AI alerted him to the fact that the Decepticons had mined it with pulsar bombs. Fortunately disaster was averted once again with the help of Team Bullet Train. Commandos

Movor's gone to plaid!

T-AI continued to monitor Predacon activity, dispatching Optimus and the Spychangers to Montrose Island where the Predacons were causing trouble. Volcano After a shuttle was launched by the humans, she attempted to access the signal from it and, to her puzzlement, received images of X-Brawn from the data stream. It wasn't long before the space agency revealed that the shuttle which was launched had been a fake—the Decepticon Movor. As the Decepticons were tracking Side Burn, T-AI contacted him and X-Brawn was able to send his brother to a location where the Decepticons could be ambushed. Attack from Outer Space

T-AI caught wind of Sky-Byte attacking a drilling platform, and turned to Optimus to know whom he wanted to send out to take care of the situation. Claiming there was no time to contact anyone, Optimus took care of the situation himself. Optimus was aided by Scourge of all 'bots in stopping Sky-Byte, the Decepticon claiming that he no longer wished to be evil. Later, T-AI received a transmission from Mega-Octane who explained that all of the Decepticons had seen the errors of their ways. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned out to be an elaborate ruse, and the Autobots and Decepticons remained at odds. The Test

Side Burn, of course, continued to cause trouble and T-AI caught him using the computer to do online fish tests. Opining that it didn't make sense, as Side Burn was a sports car, not a fish, she nagged him about going out on patrol. Eventually he did, but he and the other two brothers ended up going to the wrong locations anyway. The Fish Test

When the Build Team requested that they be allowed to go on a mission, they insisted that T-AI use the member select program just to make it all official. And then bickered amongst themselves until T-AI told them to knock it off and get moving. Wedge's Short Fuse Some time later, strange glitches began occurring in the Global Space Bridge, with Autobots failing to arrive at the destinations T-AI had programmed, and she soon discovered that someone had been tampering with the computer link. Build Team was dispatched to fix the problem, and T-AI also detected that Megatron was attacking the north energy research facility, so the next destination was set. Landfill

When the Predacons attacked the new CGA Tower and took the people inside hostage, Sky-Byte demanded something from Optimus. Something he wasn't terribly clear on. T-AI suggested Sky-Byte might mean the O-Parts, which probably wasn't the most clever thing considering he didn't seem to know about them. Sky-Byte Saves the Day T-AI joined Koji and Optimus in viewing footage of past missions to get a better understanding of their enemies, while occasionally interjecting her on commentary on the events. Lessons of the Past

After an attempted energy theft, the Decepticons began attacking construction sites and fleeing every time T-AI sent the Autobots to stop them. Eventually the Build Team found out, and T-AI detected Landfill fighting Ruination. She sent the Autobot Brothers to help, but Build Team had sabotaged the Global Space Bridge, and they ended up in the middle of nowhere. A Test of Metal

It's not just a truck wreck...it's a Transformer!

T-AI intercepted a transmission indicating that Sky-Byte was searching for O-Parts. She and Optimus suspected it was a trap, so they sent the Autobot Brothers in. Ultra Magnus With Optimus under attack from Decepticons on an island, T-AI monitored the situation with Koji, and was amazed when Optimus merged with the newly arrived Autobot Ultra Magnus into Omega Prime. She reported reading a massive amount of energy. Ultra Magnus: Forced Fusion!

While out looking for Ultra Magnus, the Autobot Brothers failed to check in and T-AI was unable to contact them. She sent Team Bullet Train to look for the brothers and coordinated the search from base. The Two Faces of Ultra Magnus Puzzling over the way the three Autobot Brothers managed to power up during the fight against the Decepticons, T-AI theorised that the power came from the Matrix, somehow channelled through Ultra Magnus. She contacted Side Burn and Prowl to search for Magnus, and sent X-Brawn in as backup when the two brothers found themselves fighting the Decepticons. Power to Burn!

I knew it, I'm surrounded by skidplates!

T-AI was able to extract more information from Doctor Onishi's microchip, pointing to a dig which the doctor was working on before he was kidnapped. The Build Team were dispatched, and when the Decepticons were sighted in the area, T-AI sent the Spychangers, Autobot Brothers and Team Bullet Train for protection. Fortress Maximus She reassured Koji that his father must still be alive as the Predacons were still extracting information from him. She was proved right a few hours later when Sky-Byte inadvertently set Doctor Onishi free. Koji Gets His Wish

With the release of Doctor Onishi, T-AI worked with him to create a detector to locate the rest of the O-Parts. The Autobot Brothers and Build Team managed to locate and retrieve the five remaining O-Parts and, back at base, T-AI wondered whether finding them was a blessing or a curse. A Friendly Contest T-AI was able to detect a data stream coming from the activated O-Parts and, despite Optimus' concerns, merged with them to get more information. Although she was able to find out the location of the Orb of Sigma, she became trapped in the globe created by the O-Parts.

Optimus and the brothers took the O-Parts globe to the Sahara Desert where, in a pyramid beneath the desert sands, they found the Orb of Sigma. The O-Parts globe merged with it, cutting off their communication with T-AI completely. The Autobots managed to keep the Orb away from the Decepticons and return it to Autobot base, where T-AI was successfully extracted. She reported that she had gained from the Orb the knowledge of where to find Cerebros, the key to Fortress Maximus. Peril from the Past

"These caramels are so chewy..."

The Autobot Brothers and Build Team attempted to retrieve Cerebros, but the 'bot was snatched from their grasp by the Decepticons. T-AI was very annoyed and chewed out X-Brawn over it. She sent the Autobot Brothers to guard Fortress Maximus' hiding place, getting Tow-Line to tow Side Burn there to prevent him from being "distracted". The Decepticons managed to use Cerebros to activate Maximus and T-AI monitored the battle from base with Koji. The young boy was subsequently able to help by commanding the giant robot to stop. Maximus Emerges

T-AI and Doctor Onishi worked on the puzzle of why Maximus obeyed Koji's command, but were unable to draw a firm conclusion. When Scourge again attempted to control Maximus out in the desert, Doctor Onishi realised that Maximus would only control humans, and T-AI had Team Bullet Train and the Build Team take a thousand children to the battlefield. The Human Element She continued to scan for Fortress Maximus' location, but was hampered by the Autobot's shielding. Finally, after Koji's friend Carl was kidnapped by the Predacons, she was able to locate the titan in a forest. Mistaken Identity

No, no, go past this part. In fact, never play this scene again.

Finally the Decepticons located the Autobot base and began to attack. T-AI alerted all of the Autobots to go to designated co-ordinates so that Optimus could lead the Decepticons into a trap. Surprise Attack! She monitored the battle from base, contacting Omega Prime when Galvatron used his cyber-bats to seize control of the Earth's children. She activated the Global Space Bridge so the Autobots could retreat, but was too late to warn them when Galvatron ruptured the tunnel wall to flood it with molten rock. Galvatron's Revenge At Omega Prime's command, she opened space bridge portals to the Earth's core and sealed them after he had led Galvatron through for a last confrontation. Fortunately Koji was able to mobilise Earth's children via the Internet and send a massive amount of power to Prime, enabling him to win the fight, though T-AI told him that Prime was still trapped.

Fortunately the energy from Galvatron's defeat had reopened the Global Space Bridge, allowing Omega Prime to escape the Earth's core. The Autobots began enjoying a look around, though T-AI had to tell Skid-Z to slow down. The Final Battle

Dreamwave Robots in Disguise comic

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"Aye-yai-yai-yai-yai!"

When Scourge and Sky-Byte attempted to steal an experimental nuclear generator from a plant in Arizona, T-AI tried to find any Autobots who were available to respond to the situation. Ultimately, Optimus Prime was the only one not currently occupied by some other emergency. Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?

Legends comic

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The events of the Robots in Disguise cartoon occur in Japanese continuity as noted above, except that they take place in the world of the original Generation 1 cartoon where the Transformer cast are time travelers from the Beast Era to Tokyo in the year 2000{{#if:|, and is}}{{#if:| a character separate from }}{{#if:| named ""}}.

T-AI was one of the many women brought to the Legends World by Tigatron using the ultra-drill in an attempt to get women who liked him better than Springer. It did not work out, as all of the women brought over eventually swooned over Springer. LG19 Springer

Following the Dimensional Patrol's departure from Earth, T-AI served as the main computer of their new mobile base, Neo Brave Maximus. When Scourge's troops attacked, she was hacked and incapacitated by an evil equivalent of herself, Dark Ai. LGEX Black Convoy Prologue

The AllSpark Almanac

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T-AI was associated with an insurance company called Ai-surance, which she advertised in the multiversal newspaper ALTernity Today. The AllSpark Almanac II

Kre-O online comic

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Godliness.

T-AI was watched by Fire Convoy while bathing at Autobot City. Two Giant Bases! Everybody Getting Along, Come On, Fight!

Legends World

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In the Legends World, the rest of the Transformers multiverse existed as fiction. When Tankor zapped Tigatron's TV with his '80s-ization beam, the TV reverted to an older model and started airing adult content at prime time like back in the day, not that Tigatron minded. The content in question was Fire Convoy peeping on Ai in the bath. LG03 Tankor

Ginrai had a nudie pin-up of T-AI in his bunk. LG-EX Magna Convoy A billboard of T-AI and Minerva appeared a few floors up from Starscream's little brother cafe, perhaps misleadingly. LG57 Octane

Toys

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Car Robots

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About to be reformatted into GalvaT-AI.
The BotCon Japan 2000 exclusive Car Robots "Cybertron Tactical Computer Ai-chan" (作戦コンピューターアイちゃん) is a small vaguely-toyline-scale resin figurine cast in hologram-style translucent pink. She unfortunately features zero points of articulation.
Produced under a "[[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}garage kit#Intellectual property issues|{{#if:single-day license|single-day license|garage kit#Intellectual property issues}}]]" of a kind commonly associated with larger Japanese trade shows like [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Wonder Festival|{{#if:||Wonder Festival}}]] whereby fan-produced merchandise is granted licensed status for the duration of the event, this figure is perhaps most noteworthy for being crafted by a young Yuki Ohshima and Hayato Sakamoto in the duo's earliest known official work on the brand. Ai was packaged on a cardback meticulously reproducing retail Car Robots packaging down to things like the "Transformers 15th Anniversary" stickers and Robot Points. She's worth zero points if you're wondering.
The card includes a color guide (pictured right) to paint her from "hologram" into cartoon colors for the particularly ambitious.

Merchandise

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KT Figure Collection

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When I'm in the shower, I'm afraid to wash my hair
'Cause I might open my eyes and find someone standing there.
  • Ai-chan (KT Figure Collection, 2004)
This figurine was produced by KT Figure Collection, and included in a set of four others. It is notable in that not only is this the only non-Generation 1 PVC in the entire set, but Ai is portrayed bathing in a hot spring, and is thus completely nude, aside from her hat. A super deformed Super Fire Convoy is seen peeking over the side, and a miniature Gelshark bath toy is in Ai's hands.

Notes

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I'm not crying, there's just something in my Ai.
  • Early concept designs of Ai emphasized the homophone with the English pronunciation of "I". This was dropped in the final design.[citation needed]{{#ifeq: ||}}
  • According to the script for "Battle Protocol!", at one point T-AI was going to stand for "Transformer Artificial Intelligence".
  • Ai quietly weeps through the entirety of the end credits sequence of the Japanese Car Robots version of the series. Why is she crying? Is it because Fire Convoy is slowly coming to run her over? Is it because the end credits song, "Marionette", is ponderously poetic? Is it because green isn't her color? We may never know.
  • Whenever T-AI makes radio contact with any off-base Autobots, she initiates it by pressing a sequence of buttons on a keypad. Considering that these elements are all a part of the same computer, T-AI is in fact projecting and controlling the holographic representation of herself and making it use the keypad that controls T-AI, herself. She is effectively telling herself to tell herself what to do. If you also factor in the fact that the hologram is totally incorporeal, and therefore cannot actually make contact with the keypad, then the assorted beeps and lights that seemingly indicate when the buttons are being pressed are actually being controlled from within T-AI like a [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}player piano|{{#if:||player piano}}]], and therefore don't need to be pressed even if the hologram could press them. This gives us a headache.
  • In the Japanese continuity, Ai is a "Spherical Computer", akin to Vector Sigma of the original The Transformers cartoon, and NAVI of Beast Wars II.
  • Ai is the inspiration for the human policewoman Ai Kuruma in the Binaltech Asterisk line. Hayato Sakamoto stated at BotCon 2016 that Car Robots Ai is based on a scan of Ai Kuruma, providing an in-universe explanation of the visual similarity.
  • Much later, Ai would directly inspire yet another Ai, the race coordinator of 2014's [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Super GT|{{#if:||Super GT}}]]-themed Transformers GT franchise and boss lady of a whole race of machine intellects disguised as anime girls.
  • According to Pete Sinclair, the red waitress Transformer is a homage to T-AI.

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Ai (アイ)
  • Korean: T-Ai (T-아이)

References

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