Will We Become Gods or Slaves?

ne of humanity’s greatest challenges is accepting and understanding transitions from one state to another. To combat uncertainty, we try to predict what comes next by searching for patterns and meanings in the world around us. Yet, we are also naturally curious and imaginative, with an overwhelming fascination with the unknown.

The first time we heard the word “robot” was in the 1920s, in the play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). It presented a futuristic vision where robots are mass-produced as cheap labor, addressing ethical and social issues, including questions about their autonomy and ability to replace humans in the workforce.

It’s fascinating to see how these concerns still resonate a century later, now that our predictions are materializing. Indeed, artificial intelligence (AI) sparks fear because we want to feel safe and secure. How we adapt to its integration into our daily lives could showcase human weakness limits—or become our greatest evolutionary advantage…

An Unfounded Fear?

In Will Smith’s movie I, Robot, humans live peacefully alongside robots governed by the Three Laws of Robotics:

• A robot may not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• A robot must obey human orders, except where such orders conflict with the First Law.
• A robot must protect its own existence as long as it does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

But what if a robot developed its own will and broke one of these rules? I won’t spoil it for you, but this premise is precisely the source of the protagonist’s skepticism—and rightly so. If we could replicate human experience in machines, what threats would arise? And more importantly, what defines us as humans?

Human, or Not-So-Human, Traits

We’ve been asking this question for centuries. Since Ancient Greece, countless thinkers of all kinds have argued, in one way or another, that what makes us unique compared to other species is our ability to reason. Aristotle, for instance, believed that intelligence involves logical decision-making and social interaction, developed through experience and learning, and is inherent to human nature.‍

Inherent, yes. But exclusive to humans? We’re seeing that it’s not. While the famous ChatGPT is an AI trained on a single dataset, there are AIs capable of learning. And they certainly interact with us, even if we haven’t reached the level of connection the protagonist of Her has with his AI girlfriend.

These types of AI are known as machine learning models, and what sets them apart is that they improve their performance and adapt over time. One such AI is GPT-4, a language model (i.e., for text generation) like ChatGPT, but in continuous evolution.

But they don’t just write. They can also mimic our voices from recordings, like the tool Lyrebird (perfect for making a restaurant reservation if you’re shy), and even perform something called video transformation. Don’t confuse this with deepfakes, which are fake videos or audio created using AI that appear completely authentic—like the Barack Obama speech that never happened. Trust in media in the future is another extensive topic I could delve into later if you’d like (let me know in the comments 🙂).‍

Video transformation is a bit different. Hour One technology can generate virtual avatars from motion capture sessions. These avatars perform in videos by interpreting their creators' scripts. It’s the first step toward creating robot YouTubers—or “how to make money as a YouTuber without being one.”

There are thousands of examples in the film industry of machine learning models long before they entered our lives. In 1968, two of the most prominent works of (now not-so) science fiction filled cinemas and bookstores worldwide: Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey—even though the iPhone didn’t exist at the time—and Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the inspiration for Blade Runner.

In both, the premise is fantastic: we create robots that perfect all human abilities except emotional ones, to serve us. And so, we create a convoy of future slaves, which is morally acceptable because they feel no discontent. They have consciousness and autonomy but lack an 'ego'.

This idea is central to the debate. From Socrates to Immanuel Kant and Charles Darwin, they all went a step further than Aristotle. We have already seen that human intelligence is not defined by reasoning, language, or interaction abilities but seems to go a bit beyond. According to these thinkers, our most distinctive trait as a species lies in our ability to reflect on our own consciousness.

A Machine Will Always Be a Machine… Or Will It?

For machines, the cognitive trajectory looks like this: without a biological body, there’s no emotion; without emotion, there’s no consciousness; and without consciousness, there’s no free will. It’s that simple.

That’s why many believe that AI-generated images (through Open Art, for example) cannot be considered art, because art is the purest form of emotional expression.

But if you’ve seen a lot of movies in the genre, robots are never smooth. Just look at The Terminator or any of the previously mentioned films. With the ability to constantly learn, machines eventually develop these traits. Just as it was inconceivable for prehistoric humans to travel to the moon—and we eventually succeeded in doing so—machines will awaken their consciousness and rebel against humans.

Whether this could happen in real life or not is a debate best left to the AI industry experts and pioneers. The recent petition signed by Elon Musk and his colleagues calling for a halt in the development of more powerful forms of AI due to the serious consequences it could pose for humanity shouldn’t make us uneasy.

So, there are two scenarios:

1. AI will never develop its own consciousness: While it may learn to identify itself and others, it won’t connect emotionally with itself or the rest. Many experts, like Ray Kurzweil, support this idea and predict that AI development will parallel an increase in our own intelligence.
2. AI will develop its own consciousness: In that scenario, we would create a completely distinct species, to which we would likely be subordinated, and paradoxically, humanity would become a god. Philosophers like Daniel Dennett believe in this possibility.

At this point, let’s assume AI becomes “superhuman.” Do you remember what I proposed at the beginning of this reflection? “If we could replicate the human experience in a machine…”

This is precisely the issue: our intelligence is limited. While we may partially understand nature's mechanisms, we cannot fully grasp natural dynamism—the why of things, the most hidden knowledge. Nor will they be more or less cruel or benevolent than we have been, are, or will be. They won’t be Lucy (if you haven’t seen that movie yet, what are you waiting for?).

The Future Depends on Us

Ultimately, artificial intelligences will always be influenced by human bias, since we teach them. It’s interesting to think that, following this logic, the protagonist of Her doesn’t fall in love with Sam (the AI) but with himself.

Even so, we need to seriously consider these issues—our relationship with machines and, above all, reevaluate the morality of it all. It’s like adopting a pet knowing you won’t be able to care for it. Going further, there is no greater driver of chaos than conceiving a child and teaching them to kill.

However, AI, as of today, is and has the potential to be an excellent tool. New technologies always have the tremendous possibility of making the world a more democratic and comfortable place. But, as I mentioned at the beginning, our interaction with AI will say a lot about us as a species.

For now, our outlook on what’s to come is generally positive and promising. In fact, in one of the most archaic “futuristic” depictions in popular culture, The Jetsons, the family head works nine hours a week. But it’s up to us. We must strive to avoid nostalgia for the future.

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