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Hal 9000, the malevolent AI in 2001: a space Odyssey, was in one of the most respected films of all time three years before Yudkowsky was born.

Plenty of people have been beating that drum for years.




Mary Shelly wrote about the same philosophical issue in 1818 when she wrote Frankenstein. My take is that AI influencers don’t read a lot of books, because if they did they’d have much more intelligent commentary.


A Frankenstein's creation scenario would be a fantastic win in AI. Extremely smart, started off kind, only turned cruel when literally every single human he met was violently repulsed by the mere sight of him.

If you want AI gone wrong, Magician's Apprentice.

If you want misalignment between what you wanted and what you actually asked for, Greek myths, Midas or Tithonus would both suffice.


Including Colossus: The Forbin Project; two years after 2001 (1968). In some ways, Colossus hits much closer than 2001 with respect to unfettered AI.


I addressed science fiction in my comment. The crucial difference is taking it seriously and actually trying to do something tangible about slowing/stopping AI progress, which is not something Stanley Kubrick did.


You edited the comment after I posted.

Your original made no mention of sci-fi, and made it sound as if no one had imagined a malicious AI before yudkowski


I did not edit my comment.

(edit: you can see that https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38116456 responds to the scifi part of my comment as well and was posted before yours https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38116494 (if my assumption that ids are chronological is correct))


Kubrick created a memorable character and a plot twist, but the movie itself wasn't meant to be a warning about AGI/ASI.

"${my favorite work of fiction} mentioned/alluded to it too!" does not make that work of fiction equivalent to a serious take on the topic in real-world context.


The gp was edited.

It originally credited Mr. Yudkowsky with being the first person to imagine ai as a serious threat to humans, without mentioning that the trope existed in sci-fi, or mentioning sci-fi at all


I see, thanks for clarification.

The pre-edit text must've sounded funny, as from what I remember of Yudkowsky's writings, he frequently referenced old sci-fi tropes about or related to AI, commenting on their relevance and applicability in the real world.




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