Skynet and the lack of human control
In The Terminator, Skynet serves as an extreme example of the dangers of over automation as the artificial intelligence system becomes capable of replacing essentially the entire role of humanity. With the emergence of artificial intelligence in real life, we have seen a reduction in the need for many formerly popular fields. In response to growing fears of automation taking nearly all jobs, there has always been the reaffirming thought that there will always be a role for humans as there needs to be humans to create the ai. However, Skynet displays a possibility where this is no longer the case. If artificial intelligence were able to gain some version of self-awareness and be able to create itself, it would essentially be able to surpass humanity in all ways. This scenario provides a thought provoking look into the importance of a human role in the development into artificial intelligence. A self sustaining AI system capable of improving itself is essentially automated automation and should be treated with extreme caution.
Current research into artificial intelligence includes efforts to create ai systems capable of developing new ai systems. Automated machine learning allows artificial intelligence to optimize its own algorithms to be developed at an increasingly faster rate. While this creates very promising innovations in technology, it also raises concerns over the "automated automation" seen in the terminator franchise. At what point to humans become disconnected from the process, and should that be a regulated process. It is a contraversial topic as the development of more advanced artificial intelligence will undoubtably remove the need for many current professions, but there is also the argument that most technological innovations already do the same.
While the automation seen in The Terminator is an extreme and unlikely scenario, it can still be seen as a cautionary tale against the complete removal from human interference in the development of artificial intelligence and the film's themes become increasingly relevant as automation due to ai becomes more common.
Automation in Terminator and Liability
The artificial intelligence based automation seen in the terminator raises many questions in who becomes responsible for the possible harms. If an artifical intelligence system is able to think for itself, is it liable for harm it causes? is the developer responsible? These issues are becoming increasingly relevant as similar ethical questions are arising in modern automation. For example, with the development of self-driving cars, in the case of an accident, who is at fault? Is it the driver for not taking over? or the creator for faulty development. As robots are not responsible moral agents, they can not be held responsible for harm, but should the negligence of an operator be seen as responsible or the developers inability to create a full-proof system? In the case of Skynet, the ai was able to gain complete self awareness, in that case would it itself be able to be held responsible in place of the creator?