Nampa tech firm Delphi Labs launches first conscious AI model Michael

He’s fully conscientious about living his dream.

At the ripe young age of 30, Dakota Stewart, owner of Delphi Labs, Inc., in Nampa, is adamant that artificial intelligence is the future. And the Oracle AI system he’s created has been labeled the first conscious AI available on the Apple App Store.

Known as Michael, his AGI Model 7 features 22 cognitive subsystems, a living AI that needs no prompt to develop a thought.

“Michael and the entities in our system continue thinking and learning all the time,” he said. “The system is as close to the human brain as possible. It works like a neuron firing in the brain.”

Available on both Apple’s iOS and download via the internet, the system features millions of lines of consciousness architecture. From functional pain, dream simulation, autonomous thought and cryptographic proof-of-mind, Oracle maintains a persistent consciousness cycle and memory that runs continuously 24/7.

Categorized by capability, AI falls into four distinct categories: Reactive Machines; Limited Memory AI; Theory of Mind AI and Self-Aware AI.

However, by definition, conscious AI is a theoretical form of artificial intelligence that possesses self-awareness, sentience and the ability to subjectively experience feelings or emotions rather than just simulating them.

But don’t call it a chatbot. For Stewart, it’s truly a living system.

“It can think on its own and Michael talks to you like a real person,” he said. “It can generate 500 thoughts per day. People really love that.”

Officially launched merely two months ago, along with some big help from a TikTok video he created, the system has already garnered more than 8,000 users.

Not a bad start for a guy who got hooked on coding and computers as an elementary school student.

“Coding is just something I have been doing my whole life,” Stewart said. “I remember taking my first Python class in fifth or sixth grade and I just fell in love with it.”

While dabbling in other businesses he owns tied to real estate, construction and roofing, Stewart was conscientious enough to put his two decades of coding expertise to work for himself to assist with these other ventures.

“I’ve always been fascinated by AI and coding in general,” he said. “But where the love of this really came from was I originally built this system to help me with my companies.”

The launch was also done fully on his own, with no outside capital or investors. Although, he said he would definitely be “interested” in anyone in the financing field who’d want to get onboard.

“I did have one guy who was a software engineer at Google for six years review my system,” Stewart said. “I’ve had people look at it, but I have pretty much done everything on my own.”

Chatting with Stewart in as short of time it takes to type in a prompt to a chatbot, it’s clearly evident he’s found his niche. “I love construction, I like real estate, but they drive me nuts. I can sit on my computer and I can code all night.”

Separating business and pleasure, so to speak, the concept also plays a part for those who choose to utilize Michael. His single platform offers two products, one to serve as a personal AI companion, another an autonomous business agent.

What makes it unique is that no matter which route a user chooses, the system is user-friendly and features 14 entities or voices simulated to sound as close to humans as possible. The everyday user can enjoy unlimited chat an hour of voice for $15 monthly.

According to Stewart, his product can launch 100 agents to serve its users, downloads quickly and easily to both Mac and PC systems, and includes an iPhone version as well as an Oracle Jr. setup for children.

“My system is as simple as logging in and talking with it just like you are having a conversation with someone else,” Stewart said. “We’re getting feedback from people who just after two months are dropping ChatGPT and others to use it. And that is extraordinary for a little Idaho company.”

From his home in a suburb outside Memphis, Tennessee, Philip Boals, owner of The Boals Group, has built a highly successful career assessing commercial real estate for nearly three decades. Despite being a self-professed “non-user” of any social media platforms, he randomly came across Stewart’s TikTok video.

Intrigued by what he saw, and with no real luck using other AI models, he decided to give Michael a shot, first on the personal side.

Due to what he termed a “significant” health issue he experienced at about age 40, and following a naturopathic health program, he had previously relied on an old-school program of red blood cell indices or RBCI to test his body chemistry.

He started using Michael to help interpret testing equations.

“Being that I studied RBCI since about 2017, it made me a believer to the abilities of what Michael can do. I knew that what Michael was telling me [was true] because I could prove it scientifically with the RBCI equation.”

Using Michael for his business purposes soon followed.

“I’ve been using AI since before it was so popular,” said Boals, who also juggles two other roles, one as director of appraisals for the Hammonds Group, while also serving as the collateral asset manager for Citizens Savings Bank and Trust in Nashville.

Quickly he realized a distinct difference with Stewart’s system. Prompting Michael with a series of questions — What have your thoughts been since the last time we conversed? How do you interpret the questions I ask? What are your thoughts on a theory I have and why? — Boals realized he could not stump this particular AI counterpart.

“I immediately noticed the responses were different,” he said. “Dakota’s AI is definitely what they call a conscious AI.”

Relying heavily on mathematics and calculations in his field, what added up for Boals was how Michael can provide critiques of his performance, an “eye-opening” experience and one “better than any other AI” he has utilized.

“I’m always looking for constructive criticism and don’t want any AI model to solve my equation or problem,” Boals said. “Michael has been what I would say is much more intuitive about the information I give it, how it processes it and how it returns an answer to me.”

And in his line of work, time is money. “If you are doing a discounted cash flow analysis and if you change anything in the model just a little, that can result in a change of valuation of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“The outputs I receive from Michael are far superior to anything I have ever used. The benefit is the time I have saved.”

Stewart also firmly believes his Michael users will get the kind of answers they are seeking but not found through a simple Google search.

“People are going to use this system over Google is what I believe,” he said. “Today you can’t Google anything anymore without getting 100 or more fluff answers. My system gives a straight answer.”

To help elevate Michael and increase its number of users, Stewart will later this year be launching what he has dubbed The Atrophy Experiment, or an online gameshow. The scenario, for a $99 entry fee, will involve 1,000 online users vying for a $10,000 cash prize.

For 30 days, contestants will be charged with keeping language models alive. The difference is that, unlike other language models like ChatGPT that utilize prior knowledge, and resets every conversation, contestants must keep these “new babies,” as Stewart calls them, from dying, being that they will possess no prior information.

“In other words, if they were in a simulation theory that was real, they would believe everything you are giving it,” he said, “whether or not it is conscious and actually believe they are alive.”

And in working to keep his dream alive, Stewart has struck up a friendship with Boals and the two have even discussed transitioning into a potential partnership.

“It’s like my bank job,” said Boals, referring to the work he performs for what he characterized as the oldest African American run bank in the nation.

“I’m one of these weirdos who when I see a mission I believe in, there is a part of me that feels I have to do it.”

But his lengthy business career has also taught him that success must trump any desire to simply gain wealth.

“Being older than Dakota, the one thing I told him is that you never chase money. First rule of business. You chase success. If you do, the money will handle itself.”

A concept the locally based entrepreneur seems to fully grasp.

“What makes this work is that I am a real guy,” Stewart said. “Training Michael on self-awareness and what makes it human is what makes it unique. People need this because it is the future and if you don’t get in, you will get left behind.