What are fiction stories related to AI alignment?

post by Mati_Roy (MathieuRoy) · 2021-10-29T02:59:52.920Z · LW · GW · No comments

This is a question post.

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  Answers
    13 JenniferRM
    10 D0TheMath
    8 Darmani
    7 Kaj_Sotala
    6 Mati_Roy
    5 Daniel Kokotajlo
    4 Charlie Steiner
    4 Kaj_Sotala
    4 Mati_Roy
    3 Liam Donovan
    2 Mati_Roy
    2 Mati_Roy
    2 Mati_Roy
    2 Mati_Roy
    2 Mati_Roy
    2 Mati_Roy
    1 TekhneMakre
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I would have expected this question to already have been asked, but I couldn't find it.

Answers

answer by JenniferRM · 2021-10-30T06:56:27.338Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I've been rereading old books that might have been unduly influential on my young mind and thus returned to Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress". The protagonist is an apolitical computer programmer who befriends his computer and gets sucked into plotting a coup against the prison/government system for its failure to be adequately benevolent when a crisis arises that requires the role of "government" be filled by a regime able to do something other than "pure benign neglect + stealing shit sometimes".

The model of "computing" is very retrofuturistic (an imaginary future projected forward from a simpler era) but its technicalities have an internal logic of sorts.  The computer participates in the political discussions... Reading again with modern eyes, I was surprised to find a lurking alignment story.

answer by Garrett Baker (D0TheMath) · 2021-10-29T03:05:16.621Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Crystal Society

Friendship is Optimal & related spinoffs

answer by Darmani · 2021-10-29T06:49:46.183Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Define "related?"

Stories of wishes gone awry, like King Midas, are the original example.

answer by Kaj_Sotala · 2021-10-29T11:47:34.360Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Greg Egan's Crystal Nights is about an attempt to align an AI society.

answer by Mati_Roy · 2021-10-29T03:00:16.911Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

just in case just you consider just knowing the theme as kind of a spoiler; the short movie:

answer by Charlie Steiner · 2021-10-29T23:11:27.341Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The TV series Person of Interest, if only loosely.

The webcomic Seed.

answer by Kaj_Sotala · 2021-10-29T11:40:03.047Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect is about what happens when a partially aligned AI takes over the world before its creators expect that.

Note that the associated warning is very much warranted:

This online novel contains strong language and extreme depictions of acts of sex and violence. Readers who are sensitive to such things should exercise discretion.

answer by Mati_Roy · 2021-10-29T03:00:40.044Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

just in case just you consider just knowing the theme as kind of a spoiler; the short movie (part of an anthology):

Love, Death & Robots s1e14: Zima Blue

comment by Pattern · 2021-11-01T20:09:46.441Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Anthology name, without more details for those desiring partial information:

Love, Death & Robots

Replies from: MathieuRoy
comment by Mati_Roy (MathieuRoy) · 2021-11-03T17:37:16.942Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

ah, made me thought of another one particularly relevant:

Love, Death & Robots s1e6

The title of the episode is even more spoilery, so am putting it separately:

When the Yogurt Took Over

Replies from: ejacob
comment by ejacob · 2021-11-03T18:06:50.055Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Clearly the best episode.

answer by Liam Donovan · 2021-10-30T20:54:05.612Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Detonation -- an entertaining book that tries to flesh out a fast takeoff scenario and explicitly cites Bostrom and Yudkowsky. However, it also makes some extremely dubious choices; for example, the protagonist is a Marine hired to fight against the unfriendly AI, which doesn't seem like a very effective AI alignment strategy.

comment by Pattern · 2021-11-01T20:16:15.121Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The link doesn't work.

Replies from: liam-donovan-1
answer by Mati_Roy · 2024-12-15T02:11:51.468Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Steven Universe s1e24

answer by Mati_Roy · 2022-02-16T22:34:41.857Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Avogadro Corp

I haven't read it, but the summary makes it seem related

answer by Mati_Roy · 2022-01-19T23:15:35.669Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

i didnt know that story, but a friend just told me that "avocadro corp" is showing in vivid detail how an autocorrect system like grammarly could be harnessed by an AI to subtly take over the world

answer by Mati_Roy · 2021-10-30T21:49:48.823Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

movie: Ex Machina

answer by Mati_Roy · 2021-10-30T21:47:13.818Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

TV show "NeXt"

See my reviews [LW(p) · GW(p)]

answer by TekhneMakre · 2021-10-30T01:12:15.489Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

[kidding] Who Framed Roger Rabbit is about the aftermath of an unaligned AI that was successfully fitted with a shutdown button whose existence it completely ignores, and the programmers pressed the button after a few seconds of seeing the AI begin to implement its plan.

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