An AI Lesson To Be Learned From 2001

At a time when Artificial Intelligence, AI for short, ranks very high on the international current affairs agenda, it would be very remiss of us indeed not to cast our minds back to the 2nd of April 1968. On that day, what is arguably the greatest epic science fiction movie ever made, was released to a highly expectant general public. I am talking, of course, about the Stanley Rubick and Arthur C. Clarke film, the 2001 Space Odyssey.

The story is about a manned American spacecraft, Discovery One, which has embarked upon a journey to Jupiter with two mission pilots, Dr. Dave Bowman and Dr. Frank Pool. On board are also three scientists in suspended animation. The spacecraft is being run by a supercomputer, with a human personality, called HAL 9000. And that is where the crew's near future problems begin.

HAL informs the pilots of an imminent failure of an antenna control device, which Dave tries to resolve. However, upon retrieving the device from outside the Discovery, in an EVA (Extravehicular) pod, Dave finds nothing wrong with it. When HAL is informed that he has made a mistake, he blames the problem on human error.

Dave and Frank go into a pod to have a chat in privacy, without HAL overhearing. There they agree to disconnect HAL if he is proven wrong. HAL follows their conversation by lip reading. From this point on things are only going to get worse, a lot worse.

Whilst Frank is outside the Discovery to replace the so-called faulty antenna unit, HAL cuts him adrift. Then, when Dave goes outside to rescue Frank, HAL kills the other three scientists by turning off their life support. Even more deviously, when Dave tries to re-enter the ship with Frank's lifeless body, HAL refuses to let him in, claiming that Dave and Frank's plan to de-activate him would compromise the mission of the Discovery.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - I'm Sorry, Dave Scene (3/6) | Movieclips

As a fellow writer, Adrian H. Raudaschl, so succinctly put in his article 'How to fix a HAL 9000·'

“I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” resonates with us not just as cinematic brilliance, but as a forewarning. We envision a future where our AI companions assist and understand, not rebel in confusion. 2001: A Space Odyssey stands not merely as a film, but as a poignant lesson in the dance between technology and humanity."

Fortunately Dave, after releasing his hold on Frank's body, manages to re-enter the ship via a manually operated emergency airlock. Once back on board, Dave sets about disconnecting the malevolent HAL.

Looking back at the video clip above, it is not hard to imagine exactly what is running through Dave's mind when HAL refuses entry to the Discovery with that immortal phrase "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that."

I imagine a string of the most extremely offensively obscene expletives any person could utter. "You dirty, lousy, rotten son of a bitch HAL." to put it mildly.

The reason that I find this so easy to imagine is that, on a daily basis, I have to deal with equally recalcitrant AI in the form of Siri and Grammarly, to name but two.

I ask Siri about the weather and she tells me it's fine outside and will stay that way for the rest of the day. She says this ever so calmly and matter-of-factly, despite the fact that the wildest typhoon in history is presently raging all around my house.

Whenever I write anything for publication I run it through Grammarly, and that little tike highlights a dozen or so non-existent errors.

Then I turn on the news only to hear that another plane has crashed killing all on board due to an error in the automatic pilot system.

And next up is a story about how a Tesla on autopilot has run into the side of a truck, or run over a pedestrian it didn't see crossing the road.

Artificial Intelligence is all well and good, but before we unleash it upon an unsuspecting public, we have to ask ourselves one very simple question, can we trust it with our lives?

Well if I cannot trust it with giving me an accurate weather reading or correcting some simple text, I'll be damned if I would trust it with my life. You have been warned.