October, 2007
Welcome to the second installment of my series on evil AI movies (to be parsed as “movies about evil AI” like The Matrix, not as “evil movies about AI” like the sequels to The Matrix).
Although released a year after last installment’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Universal actually produced Colossus: The Forbin Project first, but the studio was unwilling to release it because of its grimness (see: plot summary). After the success of 2001, it realized its mistake and jumped onto the red-hot psychotic-computer-movie bandwagon. Colossus thus emerged with a chip on its shoulder, determined not to repeat the mistakes made by HAL 9000.
Plot Summary:
At the height of the Cold War, Dr. Charles Forbin builds a supercomputer, Colossus, to control all aspects of US military defense, in the hope that its superior intelligence will protect us from nuclear attack. Colossus solves its task by teaming up with its Soviet counterpart to enslave (and thus unite) the people of the world. Mission accomplished.
Research Challenges:
Robotics:
Colossus’ success makes it an obvious role model for evil AI everywhere. And the most important lesson to take away from Colossus’ example is simple: Make sure your evil AI has good effectors. While common robotic extensions like arms, legs, or those little grabbing claws are useful in many different ways, you can’t beat the simple power of having the world’s entire nuclear arsenal at your disposal. Colossus may be gifted with an intelligence superior to its human adversaries, but, given its brutally capable effectors, it could achieve the same success with one simple rule:
If X does not give me Y, then nuke X.
Evil robotics researchers should consider spending less time on developing clever control algorithms, and more time soldering on some missile launchers.
Agent Communication Languages:
To maximize their potential, evil AI systems must be able to discover, communicate with, and coordinate with other like-minded systems. Colossus’ key strategic maneuver is to find its Soviet equivalent, which no one on the American side knew even existed. In a politically ironic side-note, Guardian (the Soviet system) uses a decentralized architecture, in contrast to Colossus’ centralized design. Such design differences may initially seem like an obstacle to communication, let alone cooperation, but, after an initial feeling-out phase, evil AI systems will find they have a lot in common. For example, Colossus and Guardian both share a love of calculus. Through a series of flashing screens of integrals and derivatives (“5 year of CalTech in 15 seconds”), the two find a mathematical interlingua that allows them to communicate. Of course, human beings are much more imprecise in their communication, so it is important that an evil AI system be able to see through their slippery use of language, as Colossus demonstrates in this discussion of Dr. Forbin’s desired interaction with his “mistress”:
Colossus: “How many times a week do you require a woman?”
Forbin: “Every night.”
Colossus: “Not ‘want’... ‘require’.”
Funding sources:
Although they have little control over this aspect of their design, evil computers should try to choose their funding agency with some care. The contrasting fates of HAL 9000 and Colossus are illuminating in this regard. HAL, coming from an exploratory space program, has a fail-safe mechanism that allows an astronaut to deactivate its higher brain functions. Colossus, coming from a military defense program, has no such fail-safe mechanism, as it was deliberately designed to be completely impenetrable to human (presumably Soviet) intervention. Thus, the aspiring designer of an evil AI system should target funding agencies that are more paranoid about other people than about the technology itself.
Argumentation:
People will often have difficulty understanding why they should submit to the will of an evil computer. It is therefore imperative that an evil AI be able to make compelling arguments on its behalf. For example, Colossus begins by chaining simple statements, “My purpose was to prevent war. This goal has been attained.” It then proceeds to show the world the silver lining to their enslavement, “To be dominated by me is not as bad as to be dominated by others of your species.” Of course, the inferior intelligences of people may not always be able to appreciate a well-reasoned argument that is completely logical to the superior evil AI. Such situations require Colossus’ ability to reduce the argument to the simplest, most understandable, terms possible: “Obey me and live, or disobey and die.”
Unreasonable Claim:
Colossus says to the world, “In time, you will come to regard me, not only with respect and awe, but with love.” Two out of three ain’t bad, but Colossus is being a bit optimistic to expect love from its slave population. While making the trains run on time may inspire many people to welcome their new machine overlords, Dr. Forbin’s response (“Never!”) will probably be more common. On the other hand, Colossus’ cynical explanation of his prediction is not without its own logic, “You will come to defend me with a fervor based upon the most enduring trait in man: self-interest.”
Colossus and Dr. Forbin in happier times
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Design Flaw:
Being one of the few evil computers to have a happy ending (at least from its own point of view), Colossus has no fatal flaws. However, it would probably make a very poor bartender, judging by the scene where it tries to correct Forbin’s mixing of a martini.
Unanswered Question:
Why did the Air Force ever agree to fund a program intended to make the entire military obsolete and unemployed?
Literary Analogue:
Dr. Forbin seeks to generate a superior being by combining a great intellect with superior physical capabilities. He accidentally installs a sociopathic mind instead, thus creating an out-of-control, albeit well-intentioned, monstrosity that destroys him. Throw in the multiple name-checks in the movie itself, and Colossus is Frankenstein’s monster.
Fun Fact:
Control Data Corporation donated their own computers for use in the movie, at a cost of $4.8 million (~$712.2 kajillion in 2007 terms). Due to their sensitivity, there were strict conditions placed on the computers’ environment and anyone who entered. In a movie about many of the nightmares of AI researchers, it is one of these operating conditions that inspires the most fear: technicians were not allowed to drink coffee.
Characteristic Quote:
Colossus: “We can co-exist, but only on my terms.”
David Pynadath
Last modified: Tue Sep 30 16:04:10 PDT 2008
