Ex Machina

According to the movies, programming your AI is apparently indistinguishable from a contract with the devil. Inevitably there is a hidden catch in the wording of the contract, or a clause that hubris encourages you to overlook. And the outcome for all is Faustian. You can pay for that later.

AI stories are often about what it means to be human. What do AIs want and why? Then ask the same of us, and soon you find yourself asking to what extent we too are programmed. If an AI can fool us into thinking it is one of us, then is the question not really “how conscious is it?” but “how conscious are we?” Deception is actually the premise of any Turing test. It’s testing whether the the AI can fool you. Cue Ex Machina.

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