So this week's prompt gave me an excuse to illustrate something I used to explain what 'worms' are in my personal little universe.

Even better; since their conception when I was a teen (in like 2003-2005 or so), the world has changed and science has grown and rather than type loads of paragraphs, I can do this:
TLDR: What if an organic replicating AI transformed into a tiger entirely based on information it got from the internet on what a tiger was for, not what it was.

Because the internet can already show you what that's like with AI generated things.

But the more detailed version of what's going on is below:

'Worm' stands for 'Wholly, Organic, Replicating, Molecules' but the 'species' itself does look like a worm (because most biological things start out as basically a tube). This was bio-engineered organism and with cells in built with an organic computer system. They were designed to 'fill in the gaps' in a world with a dying ecosystem. Cloning was acceptable up to a point, but if you wanted to replace Bengal Tigers in the wild, you'd need something that could be ready to survive and thrive with inherent knowledge on how to behave and live.

The first few worm based tigers were a success. At first, the worm-tigers maintained their tube-like bodies, but they eventually looked, acted and twisted their DNA to match a tiger.

However, things went awry when a worm-tiger in the wild looked up an observer and spoke in a clear yet guttural tone: 'Burning Bright...'.

Soon, some worm-tigers were taking on new forms, or reverting to their worm-like bodies. When one worm-tiger was examined and the internal computers showed no errors, it was queried what was wrong. The Worm's data responded with 'No errors. Fitting empty niche - striped, large ambush predator with feline qualities'. It would then add: 'Variety is the spice of life'. Parroting a line often used by the head scientist and those involved with the worm project. It was never coded in; it was learned.

The worms had not only decided to form their own conclusions for what would best replace the void left by the tiger; stranger yet- each individual instance of worm had a different idea. Some would have a close to or identical form to a normal Tiger. Some would wildly change forms with little connection to a tiger. Their data modified from the strict lines coded in the labs and taking on ideas from around the world as to what Tiger was for, not what it was.

However, these 'feral' worm-tigers would indeed fill the empty niche of a Bengal tiger, hunting the other fauna and even humans of the forests.

But some starter to display very memetic qualities. One worm instance tried to best replace the mascot 'Tony the Tiger' from an outdated form of food product. Some were even taking on supernatural or god-like qualities to fill in for forgotten tiger deities. But by that point, the worm have spread and escaped the original controlled lab grounds, filling in the empt niches around the world. The world thrives with verity like never before, but there are few 'species'. You would know if you had found an original animal, though, for the worms collectively seem to revere and protect them. As if they understood their purpose was to uphold their image, even if they were not copying their form.


...So say a worm was trying to be a tiger- it might still have the stripes, the fur and whiskers. Maybe even feet and claws and a distinct feline quality. But it'll only be trying to form a tiger in its most basic form. So it will still likely be tube-like. Maybe have no eyes (maybe just eye patterns), as it senses in different ways. It'll behave like a large ambush predator, and fill the role with a tiger, but still be a worm. The worm might argue that, technically; the tiger is just a tube too.