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In various episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, we can see a character on the bridge of the eponymous USS Discovery named Airiam:

Close up of Airiam's face

Is she supposed to be a robot or an android of some kind? Her facial features look like they are of synthetic origin, her overall appearance is decisively mechanical, and we already know about the seemingly advanced cybernetic and robotic technology of ST:DIS.

Despite what seems to be the obvious answers, it does not seem like there is a consensus about her true nature: various sources indicate her as a synthetic-human hybrid, as an alien, and as an augmented alien.

Do we have more information (maybe from interviews, production materials or other background sources) about the nature and origins of this character?

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  • imo, we dont know yet. afaik in the show, possibly future works
    – Himarm
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 21:29
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    I always had her pegged as a cyborg, not a robot or gynoid.
    – Tim
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 22:10
  • Isn't that the daft punk alien without her helmet?
    – Worse_Username
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 22:19
  • No, the woman with the helmet was named Lieutenant Jira Narwani
    – ench
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 22:30

3 Answers 3

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Per After Trek ep3, Airiam is an "augmented alien". [src]

Lt. Airiam from AfterTrek

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  • 3
    This answer would be enhanced by a quote.
    – ench
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 22:29
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    According to Memory Alpha, there are meanwhile quite some conflicting statements about what Airiam is.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented Jan 31, 2018 at 12:40
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Airiam is an "Augmented Human". A recent episode, S02E09, shows that she is definitely not an alien. She was shown to have memories of her with her husband before she encountered an accident.

According to this interview, she is 67% human.

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    "shows that she is definitely not an alien" - well, from visuals alone, she could be one of the countless alien species that look just like humans and that seem to be common in the Star Trek universe.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 15:51
  • @O.R.Mapper She is 67% human, according to the interview I linked. She is definitely not Spock type half-breed. And, I don't think they would calculate from ancestral data. The remaining 37% is simply machine.
    – Dr. Doom
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 19:59
  • According to Memory Alpha she is "Human (cyborg)". The previous statements about her being an alien were apparently in error.
    – StarHawk
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 20:09
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    I think it's great that the actors are now making up their own backstories. So much more exciting than having professional writers coordinate this with the studio to ensure that they actually make sense.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 20:37
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Airiam is a human cyborg. The season 2 episode "Project Daedelus" confirms she was entirely human and nearly killed in a shuttle crash that did kill her husband. To save her life required extensive cybernetics.

Clarification: Or possibly she is an alien but one of the ones (like Betazoids) who are entirely human in appearance. It's not made entirely clear, and doesn't matter anyway.

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  • Betazoids have black irises.
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Mar 15, 2022 at 19:04

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