Bots are a common topic of conversation in my conversations these days. My family’s hopes to ski in February have been cast into doubt by new French Covid-19 regulations for single-vaccinated teenagers.
Skiing logistics being the very definition of a First World Problem, I am not looking for sympathy here — just observing that when you potentially need to change plans these days, it is often tricky to get an actual person on the phone, even to find a number. You will need to use Sidebar Bot, submit various forms of email, and try your luck. Sidebar bot is, in my experience at least, rarely able or willing to help you on this occasion, or for any other day.
It seems that all of this may be changing. Professor Stuart Russell will argue in this week’s Reith Lectures on BBC Radio 4 that the relationship between man and machines is at a pivotal moment, that success in developing AI could be ‘the biggest event in human history’.
Patricia Nichol picks out a selection of the best books on AI – including P. Z. Reizin’s Happiness For Humans (pictured left) and Arthur C Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (pictured right)
Klara And The Sun by Nobel Prize-winning Kazuo Ishiguro is set in a world where AI is already part of many people’s day-to-day life.
Klara is an Artificial Friend that Josie purchased to be her companion. The novel, and the mysteries of Klara’s new world, are told from the AI’s perspective. It turns out that even though this may seem like an area of privilege, it comes at a steep price.
The most famous fictional AI probably remains Arthur C Clarke’s Hal 9000, the on-board computer system that controls the ship Discovery One in Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, initially written in conjunction with film director Stanley Kubrick. Hal’s malfunctions are well-known.
P. Z. Reizin’s romantic novels, Happiness For Humans, and Ask Me Anything paint a more positive picture of the AI machine. In the first, Aidan resolves to find a love match for his heartbroken colleague Jen — Aidan is not human, but the AI Jen has been teaching empathy to.
In Ask Me Anything, Daisy’s smart appliances form an alliance to get her life back on track.
While it is not necessary to rage against machines, I do hope they will make life simpler and more pleasant for us all.