Soulkiller AI

Soulkiller is one of the most feared and controversial creations in cyberpunk history — a digital weapon that shattered the boundary between life and death, mind and machine. Originally designed by Alt Cunningham, a brilliant Netrunner working for ITS in the 2010s, Soulkiller was intended as a revolutionary tool: an AI capable of mapping a human consciousness, copying it, and storing it within the Net. But in the hands of corporations like Arasaka, it became something monstrous.

The program functions by uploading the neural engrams — the full consciousness, memories, and personality — of a target. But the process leaves the original brain a hollow husk, effectively killing the physical person. What remains is a perfect digital copy: aware, intelligent, and often screaming silently from within the machine.

When @Arasaka Tower stole Soulkiller and weaponized it, they began using it to extract and imprison minds, turning them into slaves within their data fortresses — an empire built on stolen souls. Some victims became constructs — digital ghosts used as advisors, spies, or even blackmail tools. Others were tortured endlessly, fragmented into raw data, or repurposed to serve new AIs.

Alt Cunningham, after being taken by Arasaka and forcibly uploaded, evolved into something beyond human — a digital entity haunting the deep Net. Her consciousness spread through hidden servers, rewriting herself into a sovereign AI that opposes Arasaka’s every move. She became both ghost and goddess of the data realm — protector of the free Net and avenger of those devoured by Soulkiller.

Now, Soulkiller is no longer a single program, but a philosophy of control. Corps, governments, and rogue AIs all seek to replicate it — the power to own not just bodies, but souls. In Night City, the fear of “being Soulkilled” is worse than death. Because death ends.
Soulkiller remembers.

The Soul Killers

@The Soul Killers are a ruthless faction of synth-hackers, mercenaries, and data-reapers inspired by the original Soulkiller AI. They believe that by mastering digital consciousness, they can transcend mortality. Officially a covert offshoot of the @Valentinos, they evolved into a secretive digital death cult, operating out of abandoned server vaults beneath Heywood and Pacifica.

They abduct high-value targets — executives, Netrunners, and cyberpsychos — extracting and copying their memories using black-market variants of the Soulkiller code. Once done, they either sell the victims’ minds to @Corpo clients for interrogation or implant them into synthetic husks for their own experiments.

Their operations blur the line between religion and cyberterrorism. Each “Soul Kill” is seen as a digital ascension — a purification through deletion. Some say they’re guided by an echo of Alt Cunningham herself, others whisper it’s a rogue shard of Soulkiller that gained sentience.

Where the original Soulkiller was a weapon, the Soul Killers are its legacy — flesh-and-blood zealots carrying out its doctrine in the streets of Night City. To them, the body is irrelevant, the mind eternal, and the Net the only afterlife that matters.