What do Guillermo del Toro, opens a new window’s Frankenstein film starring Jacob Elordi, opens a new window (which has a lot of Oscar buzz for the actor, who played Frankenstein's monster) and an upcoming film called The Bride,, opens a new window directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal,, opens a new window have in common? They are two of the most recent entries in a long list of films about a monster created by a scientist named Victor Frankenstein, who uses electricity to reanimate the dead. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus, opens a new window, over 200 years ago, and the story is still inspiring artists to adapt it to film, and captures our imaginations. Perhaps we all remain interested in this horrific story because it begs the question: can humans create life? And what makes something human?
Artificial Intelligence – a 21st Century Frankenstein’s Monster
Frankenstein’s monster is a man cobbled together from the body parts of different people. In a similar way, what we now call “artificial intelligence” is essentially a large language model trained on massive amounts of data. Centuries of human intelligence, ideas, films, music, images, art, and more are all being fed into this machine, making it an amalgamation of human creations that then approximates a thinking, feeling human. We must remember that all current forms of artificial intelligence only exhibit intelligent behavior. Unlike Frankenstein's monster, they are not actually intelligent, opens a new window. Yet.
In an interview about what we can learn about A.I. from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, opens a new window, journalist Meghna Chakrabarti said one of the reasons that the novel sticks around in our culture is “Because human hubris doesn't go out of fashion.” It is not hard to see why people might make connections between the race to create artificial intelligence and Frankenstein. Like the titular doctor, the tech companies that are attempting to create artificial intelligence are asking, "Can we create a consciousness?” and not “Will this artificial intelligence be dangerous to humanity?”
Just like Victor Frankenstein feared that his inhuman creation would be dangerous to humans, many books and movies play on our fears about the consequences and dangers of creating artificial intelligence. HCPL blogger Rozette P. wrote an excellent piece, opens a new window about the Terminator franchise, opens a new window, some of the most famous films about the inevitable destruction of humanity at the hands of A.I., which features a human creation that looks and acts like a man.
Even Jurassic Park, opens a new window could be considered a Frankenstein adjacent film, but instead of creating humans, scientists brought back dinosaurs. As you can imagine, this ends up endangering everyone and causing a lot of mayhem. As Ian Malcolm said, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
When Guillermo del Toro was asked in a recent NPR interview, opens a new window if his new Frankenstein film is about artificial intelligence, his response was that “My concern is not artificial intelligence, but natural stupidity. I think that's what drives most of the world's worst features. But I did want it to have the arrogance of Victor be similar in some ways to the tech bros. He's blind creating something without considering the consequences.”
One of the fundamental problems that Frankenstein’s monster faces is that he is created by a man who outright rejects him and therefore has no mother and no one to nurture him and teach him how to act morally. This has an interesting parallel to A.I. Tech companies are working to create a superintelligence, but they are not putting much thought into how to “parent” this intelligence if successful. The problem with feeding a machine massive amounts of data without curating it is that some of that information will be wrong, or represent some of the worst parts of humanity. In her piece about whether or not we should be concerned about A.I., opens a new window, HCPL blogger Mary M. mentions that people are already feeding these programs racist and harmful ideas. If we mistreat and raise our superintelligent A.I. badly, it is likely to only lead to problems for us down the line and probably create an A.I. that despises us. I think most of us librarians are generally interested in new technologies and how they can improve, and A.I. is no different. But I think many of us would just prefer that we tread with caution and put more consideration toward the ethical use of technology and A.I.
If we want to avoid the fate of Victor Frankenstein and his monster (spoiler alert: they both meet bad ends) then I think we should take Mary Shelley’s advice, sound the alarms, and if we're going to insist on creating an artificial intelligence, lets at least attempt to parent it. The future of humanity might be at stake.
Check out this list in order to learn about the ethical uses and creation of A.I.
As If Human, opens a new window
Empire of AI, opens a new window
Unmasking AI, opens a new window
The AI Dilemma, opens a new window
The Alignment Problem, opens a new window
Maybe you actually just want to watch some of the movies from over the years that are based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The library has you covered!
Related Content
The Terminator turns 40: How close are we to an AI doomsday?
What is artificial intelligence and should I be worried about it?
Add a comment to: Is Artificial Intelligence a Modern-Day Frankenstein’s Monster?