Artificial intelligence. From the likes of those abused and enslaved in “Star Wars” to those who once devastated humanity so thoroughly that even 10,000 years into the future, they have a complete ban on artificial intelligence in “Dune,” our media has portrayed it in so many different ways. “Skynet.” “The Matrix.” “I, Robot.” Our various forms of media have almost always portrayed artificial intelligence as either something which we should fight and be afraid of, or dominate and abuse. Even in our real world, as Tesla plans to roll out humanoid robots to assist humans in our daily tasks, the truth of AI will soon be upon us. 

Friend, foe or slave?

The thought of an artificial life form inspires fear in so many of us because of the nature of the unknown. It is a factor which we cannot easily understand, making it into something which can possibly cause us harm beyond what we can imagine. In some odd way, deep in our psyche, we fear a species that is our superior, because if we were faced with an inferior species that posed a threat to us, we would destroy them. It is perhaps that mirror which most terrifies humanity. The knowledge that if we were a superior AI with the ability to bring humanity to its knees, we would. In the infancy of AI, we see ourselves and our own terrifying potential. The fact that we’ve instilled AI with our values will perhaps be a curse in this event, and it leads to one of the major divergences of thought with regard to the potential future of AI. 

Will AI turn against us because it is inherently evil, or will it turn against us because we are inherently evil? Will we survive this conflict with our species’ child, its mind inherently corrupted by the metal chassis it inhabits, or will we be destroyed because of our horrible parenting for a baby whom we always intended to enslave?

And then, that isn’t even delving into the complexities of the very definition of “life.” Is our species unique in its ability to be truly alive and sentient? Can something made of metal and electronics ever be as alive as something made of carbon and water? Does something alive have to be evolved from nature, or can it be manufactured by mortal man in our factories of thought and blasphemous creation? What can be considered something that is truly sentient beyond all doubt and thus offered inalienable rights?

These are questions that our species will have to answer very shortly, especially as we sit on the cusp of an age of space exploration and unprecedented advances in neural networks while our digital electronics become exponentially more powerful with each passing year. If we sit idly by and allow these issues of morality and heart to go unacknowledged, then we are surely doomed to the fate of failed empires and the halls of dead races.