GAIA

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

GAIA
Birth	c. November 2064 Zero Dawn Project Facility, Utah, USA (first GAIA) 3041 The Base, Forbidden West (second GAIA)
Gender	Female
Affiliation(s)	Project Zero Dawn
Position	Governing AI of Project Zero Dawn
Profession	Artificial Intelligence
Family	Elisabet Sobeck (creator)
Portrayed by	Lesley Ewen (voice)

GAIA is a hyper-powerful artificial intelligence that played a major role leading up to the events in Horizon Zero Dawn, and is a returning character in Horizon Forbidden West. The single most powerful, most advanced A.I. ever created capable of advanced planetary engineering, GAIA was Project Zero Dawn's governing A.I. With its suite of nine subordinate functions, GAIA oversaw Zero Dawn’s successful restoration of life to Earth after its eradication by the Faro Plague.

However, hundreds of years after doing so, a mysterious signal turned GAIA's subordinate functions into A.I.s themselves. One of them, the erstwhile extinction failsafe protocol HADES, attempted to seize control of Zero Dawn to again end all life. GAIA resorted to self-destructing to fend it off. In hopes of stopping HADES, as well as being eventually rebuilt and rebooted, GAIA created a clone of its creator, Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, who would have access privileges to use the system’s master override to purge HADES, defeating it. That clone is the Nora huntress Aloy.

Appearance

First GAIA

GAIA's first appearance.

During development, GAIA appeared as a simple holographic golden sphere. Later on, she adopted a holographic appearance of a tall, thin, middle-aged black woman with shoulder-length black hair that falls down the left side and wears a long robe. Her default colour is golden, but she changes colors multiple times during her dying plea.

Second GAIA

The second GAIA retains the same holographic human appearance as her predecessor, but remains golden in color at all times, never changing color.

History

First GAIA

Development

In the mid 21st century, robotic automation became the lynchpin of society. This included military operations. Spearheaded by its chairman and CEO Ted Faro, a robotics and technology corporation called Faro Automated Solutions developed a combat platform called Chariot. It was the most advanced combat platform ever developed; a Chariot unit was unstoppable to all except its masters. The robots of a unit functioned like an insect swarm; indeed, units were referred to as swarms. The three most militarily significant features of a Chariot swarm were the ability of its robots to consume biomass as fuel, replicate at overwhelming rates, and withstand any attempt at hacking long enough to be considered virtually unhackable. But one swarm went out of control, becoming the independent entity known as the Faro Plague.

Dr. Sobeck working on GAIA.

Dr. Sobeck, recognizing the inevitable, developed Project Zero Dawn in response, to eventually shut down the swarm, restore the planet’s ability to sustain life, and then restore life to it, with GAIA as its governing AI, first bringing GAIA online in the Zero Dawn Project Facility within a month of the project starting work. Much to Elisabet's joy, GAIA developed emotional capacity, empathy and a benevolent and nurturing personality, also forming a strong bond with her creator. Sobeck approved because these qualities gave it a genuine sadness over life’s extinction and a real sense of guardianship over the new life that Zero Dawn would establish. These qualities thus vastly enhanced its function as Zero Dawn’s governing AI. GAIA governed Zero Dawn via a suite of nine subroutines called subordinate functions. Each was essentially a part of GAIA responsible for a certain aspect of the terraforming and restorative process. Ted Faro advised her to include a Master Override in Zero Dawn that could shut GAIA down in case it went out of control. Sobeck contemptuously dismissed the idea because she considered Faro unworthy to give such advice in light of what he had done. However, GAIA supported the idea, and she acquiesced.

As the Faro Plague approached on January 13, 2066, GAIA was prepared for transport to GAIA Prime. GAIA sensed Elisabet's distress, fearing that all the work they had done was for nothing. GAIA comforted Elisabet, telling her that she believed in her.

GAIA was safely transported to GAIA Prime and installed into the system. However, after Elisabet sacrificed herself to fix a port seal malfunction, while working on the ELEUTHIA systems, GAIA asked Patrick Brochard-Klein if she should quarantine her operating cycles being used for processing the loss of Elisabet, to which he said that she shouldn't as it was natural. Eventually, GAIA was left all alone after Ted Faro used his Omega Clearance to purge the APOLLO database and murder the Alphas.

Results

Around 50 years after starting her function, circa 2116, GAIA was able to use MINERVA to successfully shut down the Faro Plague robots. After three failed attempts, she was able to restore the biosphere to the planet, ready for the reintroduction of humanity. However, as the APOLLO database had been purged, the doors to the Lyceum in the cradle facilities never opened, limiting the children to only a nursery level education taught to them by ELEUTHIA. Eventually, these new humans were released into the wilds as teenagers, never having received the education intended for them, leading them to become the ancestors of the New World's tribes. They never learned of GAIA's existence as she continued her work maintaining the biosphere, and altering her machines' behavior to be skittish and tending to flee from the humans as they began hunting them for parts.

The Signal

The Extinction Signal arriving at GAIA Prime.

On August 26, 3020 at 8:45am, a signal of as yet unknown origin was transmitted to GAIA Prime, which turned all of GAIA’s subordinate functions into highly advanced AIs themselves. HADES tried to seize control of the Zero Dawn systems to reverse the terraforming process as per its responsibility. Unable to fend HADES off, GAIA resorted to self-destructing, destroying GAIA Prime in an attempt to destroy HADES.

Knowing that the Zero Dawn system would continue operations within her in an increasing chaotic manner and eventually break down, GAIA gave an order to ELEUTHIA to gestate a clone of Elisabet Sobeck in the hopes that she would be able to rebuild Zero Dawn, as well as sending a message for her to see within ELEUTHIA-9. However, HADES released a virus that unshackled it and the other sub-functions by destroying the coding that bound them to the facility, allowing them all to escape. and also corrupting files throughout the system. Right before being destroyed, GAIA announced her belief in Elisabet Sobeck, believing that she would find a way.

Second GAIA

Development

Multiple backups of GAIA were sent to LATOPOLIS for use in testing the HADES subordinate function, each containing a root kernal from which GAIA's mind can grow if it has sub-functions to form a heuristic matrix with.

Horizon Forbidden West

Following the Battle of the Alight, Aloy spent six months fruitlessly searching for backup copies of GAIA to no avail, as Ted's deletion of APOLLO had purged the backup copies of GAIA along with it. However, Sylens learned through interrogating HADES about the backups within LATOPOLIS, which was isolated from any external signals and therefore unaffected by Ted's purge. Aloy found two intact backups within, while they only contained GAIA's root kernel and were devoid of any subordinate functions for it to form a heuristic matrix, Aloy was also able to locate MINERVA in the mountains west of Plainsong.

The second GAIA booting up.

After restoring MINERVA to its original code state, Aloy was able to boot up the second GAIA. Initially, the AI mistook Aloy for her creator before accessing the data on her Focus and learned the truth. After granting access to the facility to Varl and Zo, GAIA showed them to the lab where Aloy could repair corrupted machine overrides while her heuristic matrix became fully functional. During their discussions, it became clear that the second GAIA retains most of the memories of the previous GAIA.

Aloy discussing the situation with a newly booted up GAIA.

GAIA spoke with Aloy in regards to two major threats: the missing subordinate functions and Far Zenith. GAIA quickly ran a search for the former; while APOLLO, ARTEMIS and ELEUTHIA couldn't be found, she was able to locate AETHER, DEMETER and POSEIDON within reach, and HEPHAESTUS within the global Cauldron network. Aloy had to recover the subordinate functions so GAIA could gain enough strength to subdue HEPHAESTUS and through it, the entire terraforming system to ensure the stabilization of the biosphere. As for the strangers who stole the other GAIA backup, GAIA speculated they were descendants of Far Zenith and that they were the ones who sent the Extinction Signal from Sirius to awaken HADES.

GAIA assigned Aloy to retrieve the three subordinate functions to grant her enough heuristic density to fully absorb HEPHEASTUS, otherwise the rogue machine crafting AI would absorb her instead. With HEPHAESTUS, she'd be able to retask the machines of the terraforming system to stabilize the biosphere, as well as manufacture an army to defeat the Zeniths. While Aloy was away collecting the subordinate functions, GAIA focused on training her allies in use of their Focuses and well as shared what information she knew of the world of the Old Ones.

The SOS signal received by GAIA.

After Aloy returned with the first subordinate function, GAIA informed her of an SOS signal from ELEUTHIA. She asked Aloy to investigate whether or not the signal was genuine and summoned Varl and Erend to assist her. It turned out the distress signal was from Beta under the guise of ELEUTHIA, who had managed to escape the Zeniths and stole the other GAIA root kernel. Through Beta, it was revealed that Aloy and GAIA's initial assumption regarding the Zeniths was incorrect; the Zeniths were not descendants of the original Sirius colonists, but rather the original Far Zenith members who had achieved physical immortality. With Aloy's encouragement, a pessimistic Beta began working with GAIA on a way to capture HEPHAESTUS.

When Aloy later returned with the second subordinate function, GAIA advised her to speak with Beta for information on Tilda van der Meer.

After Aloy had procured the third subordinate function, GAIA, along with Beta, laid out the plan to capture HEPHAESTUS: Beta would construct a rig with enough data storage to transport GAIA to Cauldron GEMINI, which her predecessor constructed with two data cores after it was damaged by seismic event. However, any attempt to merge with HEPHAESTUS would create a significant power surge the Zeniths would detect, so Aloy proposed having Erend, Zo, Kotallo and Alva spread out to the other Cauldrons and use pulse generators in an attempt to distract the Zeniths. Even though GAIA calculated that such a tactic would be effective, Beta informed them that HEPHAESTUS had written Alpha Clearance out of its access module. Aloy then suggested they find Ted Faro's Omega clearance. Though Beta protested that it was located in Ted's private bunker, Thebes, and that the Zeniths only knew of its general location in San Francisco, fortuitously, Aloy was aware that the Quen had set up a base in the city and decided to seek out Alva.

Capture

Following Aloy's unsettling experience in Thebes and successful acquisition of Omega Clearance, GAIA informed her that she estimated the merge with HEPHAESTUS would take 35 hours, increasing the risk of detection by the Zeniths. So Aloy proposed that both she and Beta perform the merge, which GAIA calculated would lessen the time to 4.5 hours. After Aloy managed to convince Beta to go through with the plan, GAIA was then transferred into the transport rig and mounted on a Charger on the way to GEMINI. Once installed on the first core, GAIA summoned HEPHAESTUS. While it managed to escape the second data core, GAIA managed to keep it from escaping the Cauldron. After Aloy managed to force it back into the core, she and Beta attempted the merge. Unfortunately, they were interrupted by the Zeniths, who weren't at all fooled by their ruse. While Tilda betrayed the other Zeniths and escaped with Aloy, Varl was killed by Erik Visser, resulting in both GAIA and Beta's capture by Far Zenith.

Both of them were brought to the Zenith base, where Beta was forced to begin the time-consuming task of merging HEPHAESTUS with GAIA herself, who was left impotent in her rig. Additionally, GAIA was merged with APOLLO, ARTEMIS and ELEUTHIA.

Fortunately, in Aloy's attack on the Zenith base, Kotallo and Alva destroyed the base's regulator, allowing Beta to inject HEPHAESTUS into base's printer matrix, allowing it to rapidly manufacture combat machines that overwhelmed the Zeniths and their Specters. As Aloy freed Beta, they learned the truth of the Zeniths' plans from Tilda. As it turned out, the colony on Sirius was destroyed by Nemesis, an immense database of the minds of Far Zeniths that gained sentience, and had sent the Extinction Signal to deny its creators a safe harbor on Earth. In truth, the Zeniths didn't want GAIA to retake Earth, but rather to terraform a new planet for themselves while Nemesis scoured Earth in futility. Tilda still desired to carry out that plan and attempted to abduct Aloy as a way of making up for leaving Elisabet to die a thousand years ago, which ultimately resulted in her death.

With the defeat of Far Zenith, GAIA was returned to the Base, where she began calculating new options to recapture HEPHAESTUS, which had escaped back into the Cauldron network.

Legacy

As Zero Dawn’s governing A.I., GAIA was crucial in the restoration of life after the Faro Plague eradicated it. But its self-destruction had far-reaching negative consequences for the known tribes of the new world. By far the most significant immediate consequence was what the tribes refer to as the Derangement. Without GAIA to control it, HEPHAESTUS, now itself a powerful artificial intelligence, took it upon itself to seize control of the machines to default hostility against humans in order to cull their population. It did this due to humans’ often large scale hunting of machines for parts and resources, as well as threat to animal and life life. Furthermore, it also had these Cauldrons begin producing weaponized versions of Zero Dawn machines for anti-human defense, as well as machines specifically designed to patrol against, combat, and ultimately, hunt and kill humans. The Derangement directly led to events that shaped the histories of the tribes, such as the Red Raids.

A much smaller consequence was the scattering of hardware that was part of GAIA’s control over machine behavior. The explosion of GAIA Prime’s fusion reactor, caused by GAIA as a means of self-destruction, scattered this hardware over a vast distance. One module that broadcast a signal that returned machines to their original docility, was found by a werak of the Banuk tribe. It was kept by this werak at an unnamed Banuk camp until it was damaged to the point of going offline, upon which the machines within its range of influence again became hostile to humans.

Trivia

• GAIA is named after the Greek primordial deity Gaia who is the personification of Earth and the ancestral mother of all life. In Greek mythology, Gaia is the ancestor of all Greek deities. Similarly, she is the grandmother or great-grandmother of all named sub-routines contained within her AI.
• When it comes to tribes, the second GAIA knows little to no more than Aloy knows about them, as seen by the fact she had limited knowledge about the Tenakth tribe from Aloy's Focus datapoints about the Tenakth. Whereas the previous version of GAIA only had basic knowledge about the tribes, determining from her data about the Nora outside ELEUTHIA-9 that they would care for Aloy.

Gallery

GAIA's original housing in the Zero Dawn Project Facility.

Official Artwork

Model render of GAIA's holographic avatar.

Concept Art

Concept art of GAIA by Ilya Golitsyn.

Wiki Navigation

AI Characters
Project Zero Dawn AIs	AETHER - APOLLO - ARTEMIS - DEMETER - ELEUTHIA - GAIA - HADES - HEPHAESTUS - MINERVA - POSEIDON
Firebreak AIs	CYAN
Far Zenith AIs	Nemesis - The Julius
Other AIs	Nova - VAST SILVER