Artificial intelligence has been a common theme in science fiction books and movies since the year 1872. This is when author Samuel Butler wrote about a machine with “human-like intelligence”. Fast forward to the year of 2023, and those machines are now called computers and the “human-like intelligence” is called Artificial Intelligence. The creation of artificial intelligence was inevitable at the rate we are digitally innovating throughout the world, but why was it continuously brought up through science fiction?
This has to do with the genre of science fiction. Science fiction is fiction based on the imagination of technological advances within society. Oftentimes when AI is discussed in science fiction it is portrayed as a human-like robot, an all knowing computer, or even a voice in a smartphone if you have seen the movie Her. What makes artificial intelligence so easy to write about in science fiction, is its ability to change narratives. An author could portray AI to be against all humans or even make AI the hero of the science fiction novel or movie.
Growing up, I am sure all of us have had our fair share of Science Fiction books and movies, and have seen AI take many different narratives. This is what I believe to be the root cause of people’s fear of AI today. Fear of AI taking over people’s jobs and taking over the world, but it is also the reason people are excited to see what AI has in store based on what it has accomplished so far.
From the movie “Total Recall” filmed in 1990 there was a scene with a driverless car. Now, in the year 2023 we have a company named Tesla producing over a million self-driving cars each year. What used to be something that was only in movies, makes its way to reality. However this was not the only example of Sci-fi tech becoming reality. In Star Trek, Captain Kirk and Spock would run into alien life that spoke a different language than them, and they would use a universal translator. This translator would translate what the aliens were saying instantly into a language Spock and Captain Kirk could understand. This kind of technology exists and all of us are able to use it. It is within Microsoft teams, you are able to talk in any language you’d like and the person you are speaking with can listen to what you are saying in a language they understand in real time.
These two examples of science fiction becoming science nonfiction is why AI is being overhyped, this is why it is going through the hype cycle. There has been hype about AI since the year 1872, and now that is finally here society does not know how to react. With all this being said, what is one of your favorite examples of Science fiction becoming reality? Also, do you think that fear and excitement levels today are where they need to be regarding AI? Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you realized that nothing is ever impossible when it comes to science fiction technology, it just takes time.