The word "robot" itself was coined by Karel
Čapek in his 1921 play R.U.R., the title
standing for "Rossum's Universal Robots".
Edward Fredkin argues that "artificial intelligence is the next step in evolution", an idea first proposed by
Samuel Butler's "Darwin among the Machines" as far back as 1863, and expanded upon by George
Dyson in his 1998 book Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence.[398]
Thought-capable artificial beings have appeared as
storytelling devices since antiquity,[399] and have been a
persistent theme in science fiction.[400]
A common trope in these works began with Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein, where a human creation becomes a threat to
its masters. This includes such works as Arthur C. Clarke's
and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (both 1968),
with HAL 9000, the murderous computer in charge of the
Discovery One spaceship, as well as The Terminator (1984)
and The Matrix (1999). In contrast, the rare loyal robots
such as Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and
Bishop from Aliens (1986) are less prominent in popular culture.[401]
Isaac Asimov introduced the Three Laws of Robotics in many stories, most notably with the "Multivac"
super-intelligent computer. Asimov's laws are often brought up during lay discussions of machine
ethics;[402] while almost all artificial intelligence researchers are familiar with Asimov's laws through
popular culture, they generally consider the laws useless for many reasons, one of which is their
ambiguity.[403]
Several works use AI to force us to confront the fundamental question of what makes us human, showing
us artificial beings that have the ability to feel, and thus to suffer. This appears in Karel Čapek's R.U.R.,
the films A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Ex Machina, as well as the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick. Dick considers the idea that our understanding of human subjectivity is altered
by technology created with artificial intelligence.[404]
Artificial intelligence and elections – Use and impact of AI on political elections
Artificial intelligence content detection – Software to detect AI-generated content
Behavior selection algorithm – Algorithm that selects actions for intelligent agents
Business process automation – Automation of business processes
Case-based reasoning – Process of solving new problems based on the solutions of similar
past problems
Computational intelligence – Ability of a computer to learn a specific task from data or
experimental observation
Digital immortality – Hypothetical concept of storing a personality in digital form
Emergent algorithm – Algorithm exhibiting emergent behavior
Female gendering of AI technologies – Gender biases in digital technology
In fiction
See also