plenipotentprotogod

I find it interesting that almost all the beloved AI characters in sci-fi have personalities ranging from 'a little bit snarky' to 'raging asshole'. Given the tendency of media to influence to aesthetics of actual tech products that follow, ten years ago I would have predicted that an AI assistant would be given a personality along the lines of Cortana (Halo) or Jarvis (iron man). But somehow half a dozen companies in fierce competition with each other all decided that the right move was to go with more-sycophantic-c3p0.

Every time I see a headline like this I’m reminded of the time I heard someone describe the modern state of AI research as equivalent to the practice of alchemy. Long before anyone knew about atoms, molecules, atomic weights, or electron bonds, there were dudes who would just mix random chemicals together in an attempt to turn lead to gold, or create the elixir of life or whatever. Their methods were haphazard, their objectives impossible, and most probably poisoned themselves in the process, but those early stumbling steps eventually gave rise to the modern science of chemistry and all that came with it. AI researchers are modern alchemists. They have no idea how anything really works and their experiments result in disaster as often as not. There’s great potential but no clear path to it. We can only hope that we’ll make it out of the alchemy phase before society succumbs to the digital equivalent of mercury poisoning because it’s just so fun to play with.

my name is Cow, and wen its nite, or wen the moon is shiyning brite, and all the men haf gon to bed - i sneak inside. i lik the head.