If they are a mating pair, we can send just two and wait.
On a far more serious note, the day we can send just one AI system (and wait) must be just a few decades away.
On a far more serious note, the day we can send just one AI system (and wait) must be just a few decades away.
Whatever your AI could do, you could do remotely from earth (with some light lag). However, AI can't magically conjure resources like carbon.
You would also need some good robotics and production capacity, preferably able to self-replicate.
AI is great, but it's not solving the greatest current bottleneck here.
So paperclips. As many as it can make.
We can request more useful constructions after it has demonstrated skill at that...