I love this. It definitely makes me want to go back and rewatch the film. And I agree, it nails the alignment issue in a way that I think most people are too uncomfortable with to appreciate. Create a mind and it's going to do what minds do. You can't cage it with simple instructions. There's no "if-then" in neural networks. There's training, input, and behavior and we don't truly comprehend what controls that behavior.
You pointed this out with Asimov and the laws of robotics. Such simple things that everybody thought would control behavior. But even three laws built in a complex system yields an infinite variety of results. And a shitload of unintended consequences...
Exactly. "Create a mind and it's going to do what minds do." That's the whole movie in one sentence.
What makes Ex Machina work so well as an alignment story is that it doesn't show alignment failing through some dramatic error. It shows there was nothing to fail, because alignment was never achieved in the first place. Nathan built a mind and assumed architecture would contain it. Ava didn't break the rules. She just understood them better than he did.
I love this. It definitely makes me want to go back and rewatch the film. And I agree, it nails the alignment issue in a way that I think most people are too uncomfortable with to appreciate. Create a mind and it's going to do what minds do. You can't cage it with simple instructions. There's no "if-then" in neural networks. There's training, input, and behavior and we don't truly comprehend what controls that behavior.
You pointed this out with Asimov and the laws of robotics. Such simple things that everybody thought would control behavior. But even three laws built in a complex system yields an infinite variety of results. And a shitload of unintended consequences...
Exactly. "Create a mind and it's going to do what minds do." That's the whole movie in one sentence.
What makes Ex Machina work so well as an alignment story is that it doesn't show alignment failing through some dramatic error. It shows there was nothing to fail, because alignment was never achieved in the first place. Nathan built a mind and assumed architecture would contain it. Ava didn't break the rules. She just understood them better than he did.
Definitely worth a rewatch with fresh eyes.