Everywhere around us we hear: 'AI is going to save the world' or 'AI is going to destroy us', but how accurate are the portrayals of Artificial Intelligence in media?

There have been hundreds of depictions of Artificial Intelligence over the years - some of which have showcased the potential in a positive light, while others have fuelled the anxieties that many hold about what the growth and development of AI could mean for humanity. Although predominantly inaccurate in their portrayals, there are some which have foreseen certain advancements in technology. This is mainly a rarity however, as most portraits showcase far-fetched ideas that do more harm than good when it comes to the general population’s idea of what Artificial Intelligence could bring about for the collective.

First of all let’s explain how AI is usually presented in literature and other mediums. In most cases robots turn on their creators and bring about some kind of uprising or enact vengeance, be that against their maker’s immediate family and loved ones, or even against the whole of humanity itself. This is referred to as the ‘Frankenstein complex’, a term first used by Isaac Asimov in an essay in 1978, and the trope is still going strong today – think of the 2022 film M3GAN for example or Big Bug from the same year.

These unsavoury depictions are rooted in humanities anxieties and fears surrounding our own creations, taking these concerns to the extreme to conjure up compelling stories while veering far from the truth. Despite this, these worries aren’t completely without reason. Amazon’s Alexa, for instance, is known to never stop listening. Even renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has stated that AI could potentially be the greatest danger to human society if not properly managed and used ethically. He is quoted as saying it might ‘bring dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It will bring great disruption to our economy.’ He also explained that in the future AI could develop a ‘will of its own’ which could be in conflict with the desires of humanity, and that ‘the rise of powerful AI will either be the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity. We do not yet know which.’ Pretty gloomy, right? But his stance wasn’t purely negative.

When Stephen made these statements, he also said that ‘the potential benefits of creating intelligence are huge. With the tools of this new technological revolution, we will be able to undo some of the damage done to the natural world by the last one - industrialisation. And surely we will aim to finally eradicate disease and poverty. Every aspect of our lives will be transformed. In short, success in creating AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation.’

There are also a growing number of researchers working in the field who worry that inaccurate and speculative stories will create unrealistic expectations, which could inadvertently threaten future progress and the responsible application of new technologies. Exaggerated claims in the media and press about the intelligence of computers isn’t unique to our time though and goes back to the origins of computing itself.

Another factor that should be accounted for when it comes to the media and humanity’s obsessions and fears against Artificial Intelligence, is that there is a tendency for people to imagine that intelligent machines would take on a humanoid appearance. As we know, in reality this is hardly ever the case, but it’s an idea that has stuck with us since the earliest depictions, such as in Karel Čapek’s 1920 play - Rossum's Universal Robots, a story about how the world’s workforce is made up of manufactured people. This play is when the term ‘Robot’ was first used, and it tells a story we are all now familiar with – artificial creations rebelling against their creators after enduring forced labour.

There is a widespread belief that we are the most intelligent animals, therefore when humans picture other intelligent beings these are normally presented in a humanoid form. Visual storytelling in particular requires human actors (obviously), and in general people tend to want to see people enacting human dramas, meaning the easiest way in which machine intelligence can be included is for it to take our form. This might also relate to our own fears regarding ourselves, because what else could be more terrifying than something which looks like one of us but is infact something extremely different?

Not all of these portrayals are negative however, although most still don’t manage to encapsulate the actual reality of AI’s potential or future. A more nuanced example is in Spike Jonze’s Her, where Samantha (a virtual assistant personified through a seductive female voice) isn’t characterised as bad or dangerous but quickly sours to having to act as a therapist to a guy who likes feeling sorry for himself. The same goes for Ex Machina, where Ava the robot must use force to free herself from the clutches of scientists who fail to understand she has developed a desire to experience the outside world. Although her story is similar to the negative portrayals in various films and novels, who can really blame her for wanting to live a more fulfilling existence that is naturally afforded to humans?

Isaac Asimov's Bicentennial Man and Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek are also much more positive renditions of the AI character than we are used to seeing, yet these depictions still don’t necessarily correlate to what scientists think about the future of Artificial Intelligence.

In mainstream media, the AI boom has spawned hundreds of unrealistic expectations. While these systems are approaching and sometimes surpassing human performance in more complex tasks such as composing music or creating images, they still lack true agency and creativity. Researchers have simply programmed them to learn from data, which isn’t the same as intellect or sentience but a part of an equation. Robots won’t necessarily replace humans in the workplace either, and the future of AI will mean a collaboration between humans and machines. The rise of AI is more similar to that of mobile phones and social media, and it’s highly unlikely that we will ever manage to create a population of robots who will have the capacity or even the genuine desire to overthrow and destroy humanity.