AI and Consciousness

This is the same way that a human would be described by the average person. This introduction to the Mika Model is used to serve as a foil to the way she is ultimately viewed at the end of the story. Anyways, shortly into their first interaction, the speaker reveals that the woman is a Mika Model, which is a series of robotic artificial intelligence that “Followed [him] around on my laptop.” Once this is revealed, Bacigalupi can go two ways in his short story. He can use the situation to highlight how artificial intelligence is integrated into society and has become equal, or he can highlight differences. He goes with the latter. Fundamentally, to be “human” in society is to be given the birthrights that are outlined in our Bill of Rights. Here, the Mika Model is not granted these rights because in this society “Bots don’t get lawyers.” Despite the speaker's attempts to convince himself that the Mika Model is like him, internally he knows that these basic rights are not given to the robots. Furthermore, near the ending of the short story, there is a tense situation. The lawyer at Executive Pleasure “kills” the Mika Model in front of our speaker, police officer Rivera. If the model were a human, the officer would have immediately arrested the officer. Instead, despite our speakers’ emotional connections to the doll, the whole situation is considered “not murder. Hardware deactivation.” This is the clearest example of the subhuman nature of artificial intelligence that Bacugalupi tries to showcase in his work. The artificial intelligence in the form of the Mika Model is obviously far more advanced than what we currently have, but ultimately it is still just a piece of fancy hardware that can be deactivated the same way we would shut down a phone, TV, or computer.

Contrary to the sub-human portrayal of artificial intelligence in “Mika Model”, in “The Machine Stops” artificial intelligence dictates all human life and is seen as a deity, reaching a level of being superior to human beings. In the society within the short story, people live in cells underground, with their whole lives being dictated by “The Machine”. This Machine is initially introduced as being man-made and useful in “helping” humans. This initial characterization is similar to the way that the Mika Models were portrayed. However, as the short story progresses, it starts to become increasingly evident that the artificial intelligence here is not subhuman, but rather plays the role of a deity. The first clear example is during a conversation between Vishta and her son Kuno. Kuno has defied the societal rules put in place, so his mother sees him as disgraceful. Vishta claims that she is “Too well-bred to shake him by the hand.” This is a very powerful word choice by Foster. The word “well-bred” is used to mean good citizen or rule follower, but it also implies creation. If an animal is well-bred then it has had generations before it bred to create the exact desired model. Presently, many humans believe that God, or other deities, are responsible for the creation of humans. However, in the society in “The Machine Stops,” the term well-bred implies that Vishta has been created with the desires and characteristics that the machine desires. This juxtaposes the creation of the machine. What was once man-made now creates man. To continue running with the God comparison, there is a scene where citizens are seen “Praying to their Books, tangible proofs of the Machine’s omnipotence.” Unlike the use of “well-bred” earlier, this line here almost explicitly shows the God-like nature of the machine. Yet, it is not until slightly later in the short story that we see the true hierarchy of society. Whenever children are born, they are “examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed.” The Machine can decide who lives and who does not. Historically, this is something that has only been given to deities. Currently, humans, which are all created equally, do not have the ability to justify why somebody should live and why somebody should not. When a human is born, they have their own life to live. Giving the Machine the ability to make decisions about human life is significant in that it places the Machine above the level of humans. This is vastly different from the subhuman descriptions of artificial intelligence in the “Mika Model.”

Shortly after Kuno is recaptured, the Machine issued new rules in the society with “the first of these was the abolition of the respirator.” Issuing this rule would prevent people from being able to individually visit the surface of the Earth. This makes it far less likely for humans to discover that they can live on the surface and abandon the Machine. The fact that the Machine was able to adapt to the situation of Kuno leaving, makes me believe that Foster was trying to argue about the dangers of truly conscious artificial intelligence.

Similarly, to the conscious nature of the artificial intelligence in “The Machine Stops”, in “Mika Model,” artificial intelligence is also portrayed as conscious. The goal of the Mika Model is to be able to successfully seduce users and survive if possible. The current model makes the speaker feel like “She liked [him]. [He] could see it in her eyes.” To learn from her environment, the Mika Model uses her past experiences to “Cross her legs” and create a “seductive scissoring.” This trait is presented as being a trained behavior because of the non-robotic fluidity of the movements. Furthermore, the Mika Model is seen to be shopping and interacting with different people in society. The model is trying to adapt to its present environment. By telling the officer “I think I’m supposed to get a lawyer when I do something bad” the readers are again presented with learned behavior. The use of uncertain dialogue such as “I think” implies that the Mika Model isn’t sure and is seeking to learn. This is very different from the interaction we would expect from artificial intelligence that is fully preprogrammed. Again, just like the Machine in “The Machine Stops”, the Mika Model is presented as a conscious robot with goals and the ability to learn from its environment.

To conclude, we have two short stories that explore the consequences of the conscious behavior of artificial intelligence. Yet, they do it in different ways. The “Mika Model” is able to use seductive, advertisement robots that are subhuman to explain the consequences of robot consciousness while “The Machine Robot” explores the effect of an omnipotent, god-like artificial intelligence that fully controls society. The important takeaway here, however, is not the means but the ends. In one case we did not treat artificial intelligence with the respect that it deserves, whereas in the other we gave it far too much power. These are the means. The ends are that ultimately, in both cases we end up losing our humanity. In the “Mika Model,” we are taught that artificial intelligence with feelings can be lawfully murdered despite experiencing true emotions. In “The Machine Stops” we are giving away the opportunity of life to a child because it is deemed unfit by a machine. These short stories are not meant to solely informative. They provide us with a cautionary tale. Artificial intelligence is already here. Companies like OpenAI will continue developing smarter, more human-like, conscious machines and eventually we will be faced with a difficult decision. So, do we control AI, or do we let it control us? Nobody knows, but either way, from these short stories we see the effects of both extremes are detrimental to our humanity. We need to be cautious not to let the outcomes of these stories become reality.