Artificial Stupidity

TL;DR

This paper highlights the often-overlooked issue of Artificial Stupidity in AI systems, analyzing its roots, implications, and contrasting literary perspectives to challenge the dominant superintelligence narrative.

Contribution

It introduces a philosophical framework for understanding AI stupidity and explores literary traditions that depict both the dangers and potential benefits of artificial stupidity.

Findings

Modern AI can suffer from 'stupidity of judgement'

Literary works reveal both risks and uses of artificial stupidity

Counter-narratives challenge the superintelligence focus in AI debate

Abstract

Public debate about AI is dominated by Frankenstein Syndrome, the fear that AI will become superhuman and escape human control. Although superintelligence is certainly a possibility, the interest it excites can distract the public from a more imminent concern: the rise of Artificial Stupidity (AS). This article discusses the roots of Frankenstein Syndrome in Mary Shelley's famous novel of 1818. It then provides a philosophical framework for analysing the stupidity of artificial agents, demonstrating that modern intelligent systems can be seen to suffer from 'stupidity of judgement'. Finally it identifies an alternative literary tradition that exposes the perils and benefits of AS. In the writings of Edmund Spenser, Jonathan Swift and E.T.A. Hoffmann, ASs replace, oppress or seduce their human users. More optimistically, Joseph Furphy and Laurence Sterne imagine ASs that can serve human intellect as maps or as pipes. These writers provide a strong counternarrative to the myths that currently drive the AI debate. They identify ways in which even stupid artificial agents can evade human control, for instance by appealing to stereotypes or distancing us from reality. And they underscore the continuing importance of the literary imagination in an increasingly automated society.