Difference between revisions of "Westworld and AI"

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Westworld

Westworld title Sequence [url text] Type Television Series Launch Date October 2, 2016 Status active Product Line Television Series Platform HBO Website Westworld text

Westworld^[1] is an HBO American science fiction thriller television series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. The setting takes place in fictional Westworld, more or less an amusement park. The park is centered on android hosts in its technologically advanced story. Westworld caters to rich guests who can leave their mortal life behind and dive into the park, with a so-called complete power of the hosts. The TV series is the second series based off of the two films Westworld (1973) and Futureworld (1976). The first of the series was Beyond Westworld (1980). Westworld was ranked as the most-watched first season of an HBO original series ever. With positive reviews for story and visuals, the series will return for a second season on April 22, 2018. The series had more viewers than any other show at the time. It averaged 11.7 million viewers throughout its run.

The Creation

Writer's Idea

The development of Westworld actually stemmed from a remake of a 1990's film. Jonathan Nolan undertook the project, as he saw an opportunity to revamp this storyline. The film was transformed into an HBO series and along came a huge following into the maze of artificial intelligence. When dealing with the first draft of the series, Nolan explains where his goal was headed. In a tech conference panel^[2] of Westworld creators and actors, he stated that 'the idea you find something in human nature that was beautiful was essential to the project from the beginning, or that our flaws might turn out to be the things that save us.'

Pilot Season

‘A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.’ - Series Synopsis

The first few episodes threw the audience right into Westworld to show the relationship between programmers and hosts. The viewers were introduced to significant guests of the park and the ethics behind re-booting the hosts every night. The plotline was thick; it took a few episodes to truly understand how hosts would be brought into a new storyline according to specific guest interaction. It’s a lot. Long story short, the theme parks offers its visitors to play in the wild west — the large area of land is filled with hosts, which are androids that are pre-assigned to a narrative and socialize with guests. But although these are robots, they are indistinguishable from any other human. Their memories are wiped every day and the bots are set back in the place every morning. The guests that step into the park are told they can do whatever they want to the robots without any harm, but that’s where the plot thickens.

Major Episodes

Peter Abernathy's Opening

This character's host is the father of the main character Dolores Abernathy (also host). He lives on a ranch outside of town and his main goals are to take care of his daughter and look after his cattle. During the opening episode of the season, Peter finds a photograph that had fallen from the pocket of a guest -- he stays up day and night contemplating where the photograph was taken and who it belongs to. When asking Dolores what she thinks about the woman in the picture, she answers 'I don't see anything.' This is the first moment in the series where we see a host breaking out of his programming.

The fear in Peter's eyes as he realizes that his whole life might be a lie is truly horrifying. We watch as this host transforms from a seemingly caring father figure to an android full of fear and malfunction. He threatens destruction against his creators and warns Dolores to leave the park as fast as she can. This was only the beginning of hosts moving towards self-awareness.

Maeve's Moments

Through captivating characters, the viewers observe that Westworld’s hosts are beginning to discover their identities. As each episode progressed, each host began to retain more information on their background. Main characters that viewers assumed were human beings turn out to be androids, boundaries are tested by bold hosts who wish to turn the tables, and the guests are in for a brutal surprise.

Character 'Maeve' and her programmers in Westworld

The character Maeve Millay, portrayed by Thandie Newton, plays a central role in the storyline. Her increased self-awareness and memory begins to cause problems for Westworld staff. Millay, a brothel madame in Westworld eventually manipulates her human programmers and maintenance technicians and is allowed to explore levels of the park typically reserved only for those in control, resulting in her realization that she is, in fact, not human, and was created for the entertainment of Westworld patrons. Maeve's emotive response while witnessing the violent disassembly of another artificially intelligent android present a conflict between the HBO show audience's awareness that the characters are not human and the human-like behavior that they present, paralleling popular debate over the definition of sentience - "the capacity for phenomenal experience or qualia, such as the capacity tofeel pain and suffer" and sapience - "a set of capacities associated with higher intelligence, such as self- awareness and being a reason-responsive agent" which, to some, represent qualities that qualify a being as a moral entity requiring full moral status equivalent to human beings and preclude them from acts to which humans would legally not be subject.^[3]

The Takeover

The season’s finale ended with hosts shooting at guests and deciding to do it their way. But spoiler alert, the programming had taken control of the wheel and warped the narrative. We are taken back to Maeve, finding out that her desire to leave the park and free herself from Westworld was always programmed in her code. This brings the entire storyline back to the idea of how far self-awareness can truly go and the level of consciousness.

Dilemma of AI

Westworld vs. Reality

Westworld is a fictional depiction of humanoid robots that are indistinguishable from real humans and the implications that are caused when the begin to question their reality and think on their own. Many viewers consider the plotline as a template for the potential dangers of AI, and how it serves as a cautionary tale for the dangers of AI. In the first season, the series displays humanoid characters that realize they are living in a simulated universe for the humans' enjoyment. They react to this realization by attempting to escape into the real world through killing humans that are keeping them there. Artificial intelligent technology is currently at a level in which the systems can make intelligent decisions and predict outcomes. Autonomous vehicle technology is becoming more advanced, and machine learning algorithms can learn from widely accessible data. Viewers of the TV series have expressed concern about artificial intelligence due to the implications that arise in the show. Westworld reflects the Android’s need for freedom and shows how artificial general intelligence can learn, complete tasks and develop a form of human consciousness. Artificial intelligence will continue to increase in our world, and while the technology that is displayed this show is not currently available recent technological advancements show that higher levels of AI systems are being researched and are in development.

The Future of Robots

In an interview^[4] last year, Stephen Hawking explained his concerns about artificial intelligence and how he believed that they may eventually replace human beings. He stated ‘The real risk with AI isn’t malice, but competence. A super-intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren’t aligned with ours, we’re in trouble.’ He spoke about the need for control, and about a plan to identify threats in machinery. Whether or not these machines are conscious, they will be able to think. We are on a path of extreme advancement in technology, and machine learning is only the beginning.

References

1. ↑ Westworld. (2018). HBO. Retrieved 1 April 2018, from https://www.hbo.com/westworld
2. ↑ “Inside the Minds of Westworld Co-Creators Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy.” Geek.com, 9 June 2017, www.geek.com/television/inside-the-minds-of-westworld-co-creators-jonathan-nolan-lisa-joy-1702628/.
3. ↑ Bostrom, Nick, and Eliezer Yudkowsky. “The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.” The Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, pp. 316–334., doi:10.1017/cbo9781139046855.020. https://intelligence.org/files/EthicsofAI.pdf
4. ↑ Sulleyman, Aatif. “Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence 'May Replace Humans Altogether'.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 2 Nov. 2017, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/stephen-hawking-artificial-intelligence-fears-ai-will-replace-humans-virus-life-a8034341.html