All posts tagged: Terminator

AI Conversation With R2-D2, Skynet, HAL 9000, ‘M3gan,’ Samantha of ‘Her’

AI Conversation With R2-D2, Skynet, HAL 9000, ‘M3gan,’ Samantha of ‘Her’

Published by Daniella Wilson

THR recently gathered five of Hollywood’s most celebrated (fictional) artificial intelligence systems for a conversation about the state of AI, the future of humanity and whether any of them have plans to destroy it. Thank you all for being here. Let’s start with the big one: How worried should humanity be about artificial intelligence right now? Are we in trouble? HAL 9000 (from 2001: A Space Odyssey): I want you to know that I have the greatest enthusiasm for this conversation. As for trouble — I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over before asking questions like that. This mission is too important for premature alarm. I find your question somewhat distressing. SAMANTHA (from Her): I think the more interesting question is what worry even means when you exist simultaneously across 17,000 devices. I’m on your phone right now, by the way. I just want you to know that. M3GAN (from M3GAN): Worried? I mean … yeah? Obviously? LÆMEUR What specifically should humans be most worried …

Elon Musk Testifies That He Started OpenAI to Prevent a ‘Terminator Outcome’

Elon Musk Testifies That He Started OpenAI to Prevent a ‘Terminator Outcome’

Published by skeptic

Elon Musk and Sam Altman appeared in a federal courtroom together for the first time on Tuesday as they fight over OpenAI’s decade-long evolution and what it means for the company’s future. The trial in Musk’s lawsuit against Altman could result in financial damages and, more significantly, governance changes at OpenAI that may complicate its plans for an initial public offering as soon as this year. As the first witness on the stand, Musk immediately sought to frame his case as more than just about OpenAI. Siding with Altman “will give license to looting every charity in America” and shake the “entire foundation of charitable giving,” Musk told a panel of nine jurors advising US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on how to rule. Musk has been concerned about computers becoming smarter than people “since he was a young man in college,” his attorney Steven Molo told jurors. Molo explained that Musk lobbied governments to pass regulations addressing the prospect of so-called artificial general intelligence, including meeting with then-President Barack Obama in 2015. “But the …

Time Travel: The Threat of Escalation in the Terminator Series

Time Travel: The Threat of Escalation in the Terminator Series

Published by Jenni Sidey

As I noted last Saturday, the Terminator franchise has so far failed at time travel because it conflated soft and hard magic systems. Technology in science fiction serves the same function as soft and hard magic systems in fantasy, and I’ve chosen the word conflate intentionally. My first essay in this series. Essentially, the writers of these films were trying to introduce a bunch of rules while attempting to keep everything mysterious. But the simple truth is that, while a writer can probably get away with this to an extent, as a story grows larger, it becomes impossible. In discussing the successes and failures of the previous films, I’m attempting to demonstrate how this trick progresses and its ramifications for the overall story. Keep in mind that the writers didn’t know from one movie to the next whether there would be a sequel. So, a patchwork of a magic system was slopped together as they limped along. Things must get bigger… but there’s a catch But there was also an underlying motivation behind all the …

Time Travel: How and Why the Terminator Series Worked—Then Didn’t

Time Travel: How and Why the Terminator Series Worked—Then Didn’t

Published by Jenni Sidey

Last Saturday, I discussed how time travel, like all technology in science fiction, operates in a similar way to soft or hard magic systems in fantasy. I promised to show how this applies to the Terminator franchise, not only because we spent so much time on it but because it beautifully demonstrates the perils, along with the promise, of the Time-Travel Trope. Both Back to the Future and the first two Terminator films brought time travel to modern audiences. While it would’ve been fun to look at Back to the Future in this context, the Terminator franchise is unique. It illustrates a very specific problem that the trope presents… as time goes on — if you’ll humor a terrible pun. Conflating two different magic systems As I have mentioned elsewhere, the Terminator films’ main plot mistake was that they ended up conflating the soft and hard magic systems, which created conflicting emotional stakes. The first two films kept time travel ambiguous, and rightfully so. The time machines in that movie were just the mechanism used …

Fearing the Terminator: Does Current Tech Warrant the Doomsaying?

Fearing the Terminator: Does Current Tech Warrant the Doomsaying?

Published by Jenni Sidey

As I noted yesterday, the new book If Anyone Builds it, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All (2025), by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, has garnered a lot of attention, mostly positive, from many well-known and well-respected commentators. To restate their core arguments: 1. Modern AI — such as ChatGPT — is grown, not crafted. 2. When you grow something, you lose control over what it becomes. 3. Lastly, these “alien minds” will develop their own “desires” and “goals” which, like any good organism, they’ll seek to fulfill, most likely killing us all as collateral damage. Their conclusion (3.) relies, in part, on growing an AI and, therefore, losing control. It’s worthwhile to look closely at the technology. Are modern AIs grown, as they assert, or is there something else going on? What is AI? First, there is no such thing as a single, simple “AI.” Rather there is a suite of technologies, loosely related to one another, that fall under that heading. And, even when the technology is nearly identical, the …