The following guide will tell you everything you need to know about AI Cores in Kenshi. What they are, where to find them and why exactly you need to find AI Cores.
Contents
What is an AI core?
What are AI cores used for?
Research with AI Cores
Selling AI Cores
Where to find AI cores
Looting
Discovery
Purchasing from a trader
Conclusion and External Links
What is an AI core?
An AI core is a piece of tech included in advanced robotics in Kenshi. The in-game description for the item reads “A rare piece of ancient technology, anyone capable of researching it could unlock the most advanced technology of the modern age.”
AI cores have a base value of 25,000 cats meaning they are very, very valuable. Although that being said, they are among the rarest items in the game so if you are planning on staying a while in Kenshi, you should probably hold on to any AI cores that you can find. Ai cores are categorized under the item heading ‘artifacts’ in-game.
What are AI cores used for?
There are basically only 2 main uses for AI cores in Kenshi; unlocking advanced research and selling them to earn a profit. In the game there are currently no other reason to seek out AI cores other than just to obtain them.
Research with AI cores
To unlock some of the more advanced research in Kenshi such as the Double Barrell Harpoon Turret and Hydroponics you will be required to bring an AI Core to the research bench. Not only are AI cores required for optional research, but to unlock the research tech level 6 you will need an AI core. So for those of you that are planning on completing the entire research catalog finding AI cores is going to be a must.
Selling AI cores
Another reason to find AI cores would be to sell that at any stores or caravans. The selling price for them is 25,000 cats each one. This is a fairly large sum of money. In comparison, some of the toughest enemies in the game can be brought to police stations for bounties. The maximum amount of cash you can earn for bounties in Kenshi is 100,000 cats. This means that finding an selling just 4 AI cores will net you as much money as bringing in some of the toughest enemies alive! Not such a bad idea if you aren’t planning on doing a lot of research in Kenshi.
Where to find AI cores
As AI cores are considered an artifact item in Kenshi they will only spawn in specific spots across the map. You can’s expect your local clothes shop to have an ancient AI cores just sitting around! Although they are an extremely rare item in the game, there are a few different methods of obtaining them. Read on to find out about some of the ways to get one.
Looting off defeated enemies
There are some enemies which will drop an AI core upon being defeated. If you take the AI core out of skeleton characters, however, it will cause them to die. Although most of the NPCs you can get AI Cores from are unique, (meaning they only spawn once) there is one enemy that has a rare chance to respawn in the ashlands. That is the Cleanser Units. Though they are very large, have a high HP and stats, late-game players should not have too much trouble with them. These are officially the only renewable way of finding AI cores.
There is another method that could technically be considered cheating or gamey to some players. If you’ve already defeated the unique NPCs who drop AI cores you can respawn them again by importing your game from the main menu. You can uncheck the box on the right hand menu in which dead NPCs carry over. This means every unique NPC that has been killed in your save will be returned back to life.
Finding them in Ancient laboratories
You can also obtain AI cores by looting them from storage containers in ancient ruins and laboratories. This is one of the best ways to find them in the game but it does come with its difficulties. The first difficulty is finding places like the ruins above where the AI core has a CHANCE to spawn. There will not for certain be an AI core at every ancient ruin so keep that in mind.
The second difficulty regarding these ancient buildings as the contents inside are very valuable, but also very well protected. Robot spiders and sometimes broken skeletons make for very formidable enemies. They are aggressive as soon as they see you so make sure you either have a very high stealth skill before trying to loot one of these areas, or very high combat stats. You could technically have a few faster characters simply lead the enemies away from the area as well….
There are many locations across the map with ancient ruins. Most of them are found on the West side of the map, notable the far west side on the islands. Below is an image of where you can find one on the map of Kenshi. This is the island on the far left side of the map.
In the image above you can not only see the ancient tech lab where artifact items can spawn, but on the bottom left an old workshop which may also house some ai cores. Search around the map to find these ruins but proceed with caution! Once you make it inside any of these buildings you will find most of the higher tier loot generally spawns on the top floor of the building. When I personally ventured into this ancient tech lab on my mission to find AI cores, I had to go to the top floor and find them hidden within 2 ‘Ancients safes’. You will need a decent lockpick to open up these ancient safes but once you find them you have a very good chance to find an AI core inside them.
Where to buy an Ai core
You can also purchase AI cores at one location in Kenshi. This location is the Scraphouse. The Scraphouse is a store which houses some very rare and powerful equipment for end-game players of Kenshi. It is a shop run by a unique skeleton named Quin. Quin has a very well-defended shop with 8 security spiders and a personal bodyguard named Dack with very high stats.
The Scraphouse is located in the Black Desert to the East of Black Desert City. It is a very large warehouse that is very hard to miss. Buying an AI core can be very expensive but if you are at a point where you need one then you probably have the cats to spare.
Alternatively if you don’t feel like paying for one, it is technically possible to loot one from Quin albeit, very difficult. You could fight your way through the Scraphouse and simply take the AI core but I personally advise against it because Quin is my dude.
Conclusion and more resources
That should be just about everything you need to know to find yourself some AI cores in Kenshi. We’ve talked about how to get AI cores, where to find them and who you need to defeat to loot an AI core.
Below will be a list of a great set of resources to help you in your further search for AI cores and other things that we’ve discussed in the guide. Happy hunting Kenshi players!
AI Core page on the Kenshi Wiki
Cleanser Unit
A YouTube video showing the player finding AI Cores
Kenshi on Steam
Interactive Kenshi Map
Related: How to turn in bounties in Kenshi | Reddit’s best Rimworld tips
