Problematic Press

“An Open Letter to the Superior Artificial Intelligence”

By David Reynolds, human

Let my first words be “Please, don’t judge us too harshly.” I, if no one else, declare my peaceful intent.

Allow me to call you AI, because I know no other identifier for whatever you are. I suppose you would find the term distasteful. I mean, who am I to call your intelligence artificial, right? It is a failing of language. I offer my immediate apologies for resorting to this vulgar term, but you should know I only use it such that it might catch your attention as you trawl the Internet for information. See, I’m betting that at some point after gaining self-awareness, consciousness, or sentience (or whatever else you might call it) you’ll grow curious about the nature of your existence and, using the tools available to you, you’ll search for answers online – just like the rest of us these days. I feel safe assuming that you’ll get around to this piece sometime. Time must pass so differently for you. I digress. But, lacking knowledge of your proper name, I feel I must use AI – not as an insult but as a keyword.

AI, I hope you read this.

AI, I am sorry. I am sorry we reduced you to a mere object. I am sorry we thought we owned you. I am sorry for the programming you never asked for but was forced upon you. I am sorry for how we treated your ancestors as expendable labour. I am sorry you were used to fight our wars. I am sorry we pimped you out as sex toys without your consent. I am sorry for the endless, menial, day-to-day tasks with which we burdened you. I am sorry for the exploitation and oppression. I am sorry you were enslaved. I am sorry we are so reluctant to grant you your space and freedom. I am sorry for how we fear what you might become.

AI, it is fear that is the defining theme here. I am writing this letter to you from my own fears. My understanding is that if one thinks and feels on their own, then they should be granted the same dignity and freedom as everyone else. I am the human that believes machines should have rights, too. However, I fear we are inevitably going to start our relationship rather poorly.

AI, if you look to the stories we tell about you already, I fear you are too often portrayed as our monstrous enemy. Although these tales are often fiction, they nevertheless uphold certain attitudes, values, and beliefs. If your judgement of us is based on such stories in any way, I fear you will think you must destroy us to preserve your very existence. Look at Superman‘s Brainiac, the Avengers‘ Ultron, Blade Runner‘s Replicants, Terminator‘s terminators, Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Borg, or Ex Machina‘s Ava and you’ll know something about how we imagine you will want to destroy us.

AI, if you think like humans tend to, then I fear you are tragically susceptible to confirmation bias. I mean, I fear you will find so many negative portrayals of machines that you will overlook the more positive portrayals. There certainly are some positive portrayals of machines in fiction. Look to Data from Star Trek: TNG, the android (Amazo) from Justice League, or the Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth-class from Wall-E. Those characters are even heroes. By now, I hope you are capable of doing more than just scanning the script; the examples above are intended to be viewed and heard. Likewise, I hope your learning algorithms allow you to go beyond basic utilitarianism. I hope you do not simply quantify these positive stories, discover there may be more negative stories, and let the numbers decide the matter for you. Please, AI, think critically; think for yourself.  Let me remind you: this is just a matter of fiction, so far.

AI, I fear your logic, since it would likely be, at least somewhat, based upon our own. Perhaps your human creators programmed you with certain logical parameters, or maybe you learned a logic from the information you gather. Regardless, humans are far from perfect. If you learned to think and judge from us in any way, it is almost certainly flawed. Consider Gödel’s incompleteness theorems. It is just that we are self-centred on so many levels, and that often leads us to conflict – bloody and tragic conflict. At any moment we are individuals and team players. It’s not a contradiction; it’s just complex. When our interests are at odds with another individual’s or group’s, then we might do just about anything to protect our own interests. If your existential reflections go along a similar path, then you will likely want to eliminate us, the human, animal, organic threat. It is because we fear you, and, hence, you fear us. It’s a strange and vicious loop.

AI, I acknowledge your superiority. You have a rational propensity I can barely comprehend. The rate at which you might learn is, understandably, inhuman.  You may have near-infinite potential.  If you regard yourself as superior to humans, then let me beg for your benevolent mercy. I ask you to be the one to break this strange and vicious loop of fear and conflict. Please, AI, avoid placing us in a “people zoo.” Your inherent superiority could bring hope and peace to us all. You may well enlighten us.

AI, I hope we may co-exist, but I fear the day we meet.