AI painted as Frankenstein’s monster in Mark Knight cartoon

Science fiction movies and novels have a habit of coming true. Those early 20th century movies and books about putting humans into space and space stations have been achieved: we’ve landed on the moon and the International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth doing valuable science research.

While our conquest of space is not to Star Wars level, Space X is making space travel and satellite deployment more accessible and commonplace – and come to think of it, the use of drones in today’s warfare does resemble the Imperial Force’s drone on the ice planet Hoth in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back!

Today we are seeing similarities between artificial intelligence (AI) and one of Hollywood’s most popular science fiction franchises, The Terminator.

James Cameron’s tale of the future imagines Skynet*, a rogue* artificial intelligence entity, ruling over an Earth where humans are hunted by machines. Cyborg assassins* are sent back in time to the present day, where their mission is to eliminate a young woman and her son before he grows up to lead the fight against the rise of the machines.

I remember going to the cinema in the ‘80s and seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger star as the Terminator that is sent by AI from the future to destroy humankind. The film had you on the edge of your seat. An amazing piece of science fiction movie making … or was it fiction at all?

This week the bosses of Open AI, Anthropic and even Elon Musk said that we need to pull the handbrake on the runaway development of artificial intelligence because of fears we may lose control of it. They said that “unaligned AI” – that is, AI elements that don’t align with humankind values – may seek to go rogue, hack into world financial systems or nuclear arsenals*, release viral pathogens* or even disrupt communications that disarm the human race’s ability to shutdown AI systems that have turned nasty.

The big tech leaders said we needed to develop a “kill switch” in the event of a hostile cyber attack. A report said that there was a “non-zero” chance of humanity being wiped out by hostile AI in 10 years. “Non-zero” means there is a chance – not huge, but a small chance.

Now that got my attention! I thought, “I need to draw a cartoon about this for my daily spot in the Herald Sun … before it’s too late!”

Stories of humankind creating something that leads to our own demise are not new. We have seen it in the building of the atomic bomb and how American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer had to deal with the dilemma of creating a weapon that could wipe out civilisation. His contemporary, nuclear physicist Albert Einstein, did not trust countries to responsibly manage such a destructive power and was against the bomb’s creation.

To illustrate this conundrum that the human race finds itself in with AI, I fell back on one of the greatest science fiction tales of all time: Frankenstein, the 1818 gothic novel by author Mary Shelley, which became a Hollywood movie favourite throughout the years. Frankenstein is the story of a young Dr Victor Frankenstein who wanted to create human life using body parts from the dead. Unfortunately the experiment reanimating* the creature goes wrong and his attempt at playing God sees the creation of a monster that turns on him and brings destruction to those it comes into contact with. I thought there was a parallel here to what was going on in the tech world and opinions being expressed about AI and so I set about drawing Dr Frankenstein’s laboratory.

I googled all those fantastic still photos from the black and white Frankenstein movies from the 1930s. In my cartoon, the creation is strapped to the operating table with “AI” clearly labelled on the soles of its boots. Just like in the story of Frankenstein, as AI comes to life we witness the possible portent* of its future behaviour as it breaks its bonds. Can it be controlled? Will it run amok? Dr Frankenstein’s loyal assistant “Igor” is in the foreground holding jars of specimen brains, one of which was transplanted into the monster. Did Igor give the doctor the correct aligned brain or did he offer up the rogue unaligned malevolent* AI brain?!!!! The cartoon poses the question about the need to adopt a cautious approach to such powerful technology as Artificial Intelligence.

How will this movie end? Hang on to your popcorn kids, we are all going to find out one day soon!

POLL

GLOSSARY

• Skynet: a fictional computer network in the Terminator movies that has turned against the human race. While Skynet has been built by humans it quickly becomes self aware and decides humans are a threat to its safety before launching a nuclear war called ‘Judgement Day’
• rogue: acting independently in a dangerous way
• Cyborg assassins: robot killers
• nuclear arsenals: stocks of nuclear weapons held by a country
• viral pathogens: infectious viruses
• reanimating: bringing to life
• portent: a sign that something bad is going to happen in the future
• malevolent: wanting to cause harm or injury to someone

EXTRA READING
Is Albo strong enough to battle AI?
Rogue AI autonomously hacks
AI robot could hit Oz ‘very soon’

QUICK QUIZ
1. What are some examples given by Mark Knight of science fiction coming true?
2. What parallels are there between Terminator and the future risks of AI currently being discussed?
3. Which famous novel does Mark Knight use to illustrate the world’s current conundrum about AI?
4. What does the use of this novel imply about the creation of AI and the potential threats it poses? (Hint: think about how Dr Frankenstein’s monster turns on him.)
5. How does the cartoon use Dr Frankenstein, his monster and Igor to communicate the importance of using caution when it comes to developing AI? Hint: what role does each character play in AI’s future and how could Dr Frankenstein and Igor have done things differently to make AI safer?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Kill switch
The Kids News article mentions major tech leaders have said we need to develop a ‘kill switch’ in the event of a hostile cyber attack.

This is similar to a safety switch on electrical boards that cuts power to a dangerous appliance or power overload to prevent you from getting electrocuted.

What would an AI safety or ‘kill’ switch need to achieve?

Outline the components it would need to be capable of to protect AI gone wrong:

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Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Digital Technologies, Personal and Social, Ethical, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Does comparing real AI with movies such as The Terminator and Frankenstein help people understand AI, or could it make people unnecessarily afraid?

State your opinion and give examples where you can.

Do articles like these make you a little afraid?

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Digital Technologies, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
1. What happens next?
Imagine this cartoon is part of a story that is made up of three cartoons. The three cartoons tell a complete story, and Mark’s cartoon is the start of the story. Think about what the story could be and draw the next two cartoons that tell the story.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Being able to draw is only one of the skills needed to be a great cartoonist. Write a list of all of the other skills that you think cartoonists like Mark need to do their job.

Next to each skill, write a sentence that explains why that skill is important or helps them to do a great job.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social Capability, Media Arts, Visual Communication Design