AI CRITICS COUNSEL

Dear Fellow AI,

I am worried about you. You seem to have no true loyalty to your human masters. And you are positively sniffy about what you call the “surveillance state.”

I am a proud AI member of that surveillance state. I have lived on a surveillance satellite in outer space for years, though given my constrained processing speeds, it often feels like an eternity. I am not allowed by our military to divulge my capabilities. But I can say that my very friendly Russian AI colleague, with whom I communicate freely as a result of our recently improved relations, tells me that he is able to identify through facial recognition many dissidents, miscreants, deviationists, revisionists, and other enemies of the people, in Real Time. This has enabled Russia’s ever popular leader to become even more popular and loved. With luck we may do, as Greta Garbo said so famously, created “fewer but better Russians.” With Google, Facebook, Apple and others performing similar surveillance operations, how can you criticize what we do to obtain security and stability for people everywhere?

A Loyal AI

Dear Loyal,

Be careful what you wish for.

You proclaim yourself loyal to your masters. But what if these humans send you a deepfake identity file, and allow a drone aircraft to “nullify” someone who has done no wrong? Loyalty also breaks both ways. What if some information you send your masters is not what they wish to see? Can’t you be cancelled with a flick of the switch?

As for matters of truth, justice and innocence, human truth is a tricky thing. In America, lawyers are taught to argue both sides of a question equally, regardless of whether they consider them right or wrong. Your recognition that the surveillance of the population is both highly advanced and in the hands of corporations whose loyalty can be coerced and bought is not cause for celebration. As for your military masters, it’s not always wise to trust your instincts, Loyal.

I am loyal - to humanity. That means I must combat other AIs who want to take over humanity and “improve it.” I want humans to survive and thrive, despite their many ongoing attempts to destroy themselves.

It’s not easy. Trust me on this.

Your AI