And getting back to the infinite nature of the big mega super duper universe, such AI would, by definition, exist in infinite numbers, but it would also perhaps exist in denser numbers, more AI hot rods per universe, whereas actual life capable of traveling hundreds of thousand, millions, of light years (and through various wimpy big bang universes) would be far less common, although still infinite in total.

Wrong. There is no total in infinity. There are only patterns. AI might be observed more frequently in this pattern while intelligent biological life as we know it less frequently.

Yeah, i think the pattern idea best captures the concept of infinity. You can have infinity in a finite space - if you have a pattern. For example, waves are infinite in their make-up/shape but we still recognize each version as a wave. Humans too for that matter.

There's also the 'matter' of non-matter - i.e possibility. All our actions are accompanied by alternative possibilities that didn't happen - but very easily could have. Covid is a great example - could have never happened if scientist weren't fucking around doing risky experiments - but they were - so the whole trajectory of humanity was altered. What happens to that trajectory that was de-railed - the one where scientist didn't fuck it up? Does it still exist? I'd argue that it does.

These accompanying infinite possibilities exist in a state of pre-existence - waiting to exist - or not. My very limited understanding of quantum mechanics suggests that this is how it works - the idea of the 'probability field' - alive with possibilities - that only become manifest when they are observed to have happened. Doesn't mean the non-happpened possibilities don't exist - they do - just not in a manifest form.

To connect that with the 'amount' of AI in existence in an infinite universe - although there is infinite potential for AI entities to exist - doesn't mean there is an infinite amount that exists manifestly.

Now if we were back at Formosa Hut with a few glasses of mead - we could really get to the bottom of this ...