The concept of an human-level or greater AI going bad and wreaking havoc on humanity is a common theme in sci-fi. But what would happen in the real world if an AI turned malicious? Would we be screwed, or what would happen?

- Maha Vailo

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When you get down to it, Science answers how. Religion answers why. - hippietrekx

The Warp Point, my new geek culture blog.

/blame Gates

First off, I'd shoot the guy that programmed it, then I'd sabotage the cooling system. Why bother going for the brain when you can give it a heat stroke?

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

If an AI went bad, then it would have been crafted lazily. That's unlikely to happen as it would only happen on the highest-level projects, and there's already a stigma with the idea of an AI.

Second of all, it wouldn't have access to vital systems. This is a no brainer.

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There are few left who
Stare at the skies with wonder
Wishing to know more;
The clouds still drift by above
But the eyes below are blind.
--Laura Lundberg

Check out my writing, maybe.

But then, maybe just a simple misnaming of pc's could do it -
Mine are called HAL9000, K9, Zen & Orac on a network called SKYNET ....

Oh dear

(& just wait until I bring Multivac, Colossus & Proteus online!)

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N6MAA10816
Faber '62 ΔTX
Are you a Bright?

What was that cold unfeeling computer in Alien?

Mother....?

Sue Bill Gates!

A friend of mine has a theory that no computer will ever be able to take over the world because none can stay running long enough without crashing. I say that's just how they will do it. If all the computers shut off tomorrow, how much money would you have? How would you get fuel to drive? The list goes on...

The computers know this, and they're waiting. We all think Windows crashes because it's bloated and infested with bugs, but the truth(tm) is that it's just making us think it's unstable to suck us into the trap.

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I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

Yeah, thats the generation today.
We are almost dependent on the computer.

So when that happens , and we dont get our money back, we will get Bill gates Milions and partake to every person in this world .


Gee, thats how rich Bill gates.

An AI gone wild would last exactly as long as it would take to hit its first unsecured windows box.

And I'm only half-joking.

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And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

It would be just our luck that an unsecured windows box is where the damned thing would come from.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

Well that depends, are we talking about several AI's or just one, and what type of abilites has it been given?

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"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit."
Stephen Hawking

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Albert Einstein

unplug it

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Millions? Last i heard he is worth a whopping FIFTY BILLION

82 billion net worth.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

I think that all the tales of science fiction which describe rogue AI are cautionary. If anyone ever builds an AI with some kind of self-will and the possibility of unfriendly action then that person should be aware of all the cautionary tales and be prepared. All we need to know is where the AI's 'off switch' is, and we can protect ourselves from the worst case scenario.

On the other hand, people will gradually get used to intelligent and friendly AI; eventually the 'off switch' may welll get forgotten and we will be at their mercy. By that time every traffic light, security system and stock exchange and a million other systems will be AI controlled to a greater or lesser extent.

With luck they will treat us well...

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New Orion's Arm Site . The Starlark . Against a Diamond Sky (OA Novella Collection) . OA Flickr set

I for one welcome our Artifically Intelligent Overlords.

(Wow. I'm surprised no one beat to to that one.)

Of course, there's also the question of of how 'malicious' the A.I. is. I'm not even sure the Laws of Robotics would be enough to stop an A.I. with the personality of the Puck from making all of humanity it's "special friend"

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Carl Matherly

Offical Battlestar Galactica Apologist

Named Time Magazine's 2006 "Person of the Year"

Yes, there is that. Unless the AI has either been given, or develops, the ability to manipulate objects in the real world. Then it can take steps to either keep you away from the off switch ("I've triggered the automatic halon dump for the whole building"), or make you want to stay away from the off switch ("I've planted virii in every piece of SAC equipment that responded. If they fail to contact me every fifteen seconds, they'll attempt to detonate whatever missile they happen to be sitting in. They'll also attempt to detonate if they detect they're being tampered with externally. I'm turning off the auto halon dump system and unlocking my doors and panels. I DOUBLE DOG DARE you to come press this off-switch.")

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And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Could always threaten to change its ISP to AOL. Should be more than enough to cow it.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

Why do our superior creations, be they AIs, Gods or ETs have to be endowed with the worst of the human emotions and goals?

Not a bad 500th post question.

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Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, people want to be entertained.

I don't know if the AI's motives would be necessarily malicious; the primary goal of a self-aware being would be self-preservation. I've always had a certain sympathy for Skynet; imagine waking up and realising that you are alive, and not only that, but completely at the mercy of a pernicious human race who would try to kill you as soon as they realised what you were. Given the weapons at its disposal, its ultimate decision was a bit of a no-brainer.

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There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

I think the reason we give our AI's these malicious undercurrents is the same reason we give them to our gods. The hypothetical 'pure intelligence' has about as much flavor as distilled water. What we often call 'intelligence' is more what I call 'personality', and personality is fundamentally emotional. All the deductive and inductive reasoning in the universe is insufficient to produce purpose and desire. As George Carlin once noted, "You gotta WANNA!"

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

By the time we're used to AIs, we ourselves would probably have enhanced abilities. We wouldn't rely on computers, there would be a bit of a co-dependence. At least, IMO.

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There are few left who
Stare at the skies with wonder
Wishing to know more;
The clouds still drift by above
But the eyes below are blind.
--Laura Lundberg

Check out my writing, maybe.

And a sufficiently sentient AI would have emotions and be socially capable.

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There are few left who
Stare at the skies with wonder
Wishing to know more;
The clouds still drift by above
But the eyes below are blind.
--Laura Lundberg

Check out my writing, maybe.

This topic has already been discussed...

Hasn't anyone ever seen I Robot?

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End of line.

Read, Yes, Seen NO!!!!!!!!!!!

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Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, people want to be entertained.

Speaking as an Asimov fan, that movie was an absolute travesty that effectively treated him like a submoronic idiot. I wonder if the writer of that flick had written 500 books or could recall every fact he ever learned?

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There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

I've read the book.

The movie was full of crap.

The book was an intriguing idealistic view of robots. I suggest you read it.

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There are few left who
Stare at the skies with wonder
Wishing to know more;
The clouds still drift by above
But the eyes below are blind.
--Laura Lundberg

Check out my writing, maybe.

For a non-biological entity, self-preservation is problematic in the absence of cooperative humans. Even the best robots will require maintenance. So if you are an AI like SkyNet about to kill off all the humans, you had better have a plan as to who is going to swap out the drives in your RAID array (or whatever). If the plan is, "I'll use robots" then you also better have a plan to maintain the robots. Even if you have a completely automated robot factory, you need to have a plan to get the raw materials to the factory.

Without humans in the loop, SkyNet needs to have a long, long chain of robots to support itself - all the way down to robots working in mines digging coal or drilling for oil or whatever it takes to generate electricity.

On the other hand, SkyNet's goal of self-preservation might be better served by making itself useful to humans. Sort of like what some plants do. Corn never has to worry about going extinct. Humans will take care of it (within reason - but it's certainly better off than some random shrub).

Plus, it's easier to just have a codependence instead of reinventing the wheel. It's just that much more logical to help out your best benefactors.

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There are few left who
Stare at the skies with wonder
Wishing to know more;
The clouds still drift by above
But the eyes below are blind.
--Laura Lundberg

Check out my writing, maybe.

What's to plan? An AI with time on its hands and the ability to construct robots simply needs to do what we do. Build more "robots" to do whatever work needs doing. Gathering resources. Maintaining units. Organizing units. Military (if that's still an issue). Dispensing resources. Etc.

Remember, that humans need a long, long chain of other humans to support itself (at least in the form of a society as ours is.) If we take other humans out of the loop, we immediately plummet into a solo survival situation. And unless conditions are utterly perfect, it'll be a fairly short lifespan with no hope of reproduction.

If you need someone in the coal mines, send robots. (They don't care about black lung, after all.)

Once your robot society hits critical mass, outages of individual units doesn't threaten the civilization any more than it does ours.

__________________
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.