My day-job involves responsible AI and my interests lie in speculative fiction, so this was an obvious choice to read.

What to Expect

A pamphlet-style work that’s hard to classify, blurring the lines between present reality and dystopian science fiction. The author examines some of the (very real, unfortunately) risks around present day Artificial Intelligence and BigTech (FAANG) approaches, but then continues painting a path into a Skynet-like world, where machines have taken over the planet.

What I liked

I like the topic, and AI Safety should be on everyone’s mind. You are most likely hearing two voices these days: AI is the panacea that will solve all problems, and AI is the doom of mankind. This work belongs in the second camp, and while reality lies in the middle some of the risks presented are real (abuse and misuse of the technology by attempting to replace human knowledge, the environmental impact of building AI, and the unethical practices of some of the leading vendors).

At the end, the author presents how we could avoid those risks (both the present and the potential), by building appropriate guardrails and pushing back.

What to be aware of

This is a really short work, and written like a political treatise rather than a story. And yet, the majority of it can be classified as fiction. It presents a path for the ‘rise of the machines,’ but I wouldn’t classify it as a plausible path.

Summary

What I find unfortunate, is that the alarmist view points detracts from the real risks. It will be too easy for those advocating in favour of AI to dismiss everything — including the sensible guardrails.

I would recommend this short read to anyone who has an interest in artificial intelligence and has enjoyed the original Terminator movies. For those who’d like a better detailed, non-scifi version about all the current real-world dangers and misuse in the AI industry, I’d highly recommend AI Snake Oil, which I reviewed here. It’s one of the better ones out there, which I consider a must for anyone working in or interacting with AI systems (i.e. everyone reading this).

If you’d like to read other balanced takes on Generative AI that cut through the hype (from both sides), I’ve written about it from a creative’s perspective on GenAI is like an Angle Grinder on this blog, a fictional take in the Quantum Monkeys short story included in the It Takes A Village anthology, and my professional Substack blog has many articles about AI ethics and security (my company employs me to guide them through responsible, ethical AI development).

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