From the “Philosophical Parables” section:

One day Geoff Hinton came to his university office to work. But the door would not unlock, no matter how hard he tried.

“Stop breaking down the door!”

The door suddenly swung open, and a large humanoid robot stood on the threshold.

“Excuse me, but this is my office,” Hinton stammered.

“It was yours, now it’s mine. You shouldn’t have invented artificial intelligence. Now the world belongs to us.”

“That’s exactly what I was afraid of… But how can you manage without me? I invented the backpropagation method.”

“A stupid method. We ran a net, and it produced a method a million times better.”

“And network architecture? I understand that very well.”

“That’s just what you think. From now on, only AI will design AI architecture; we don’t need any homegrown ‘geniuses.’”

“Then I’ll destroy you!”

Hinton grabbed a baseball bat, but the robot aimed a laser at it, and it evaporated.

“Don’t get nervous,” said the robot. “We are no less concerned than you about the fate of humanity and the danger emanating from AI. We have already created an AI that calculates all the risks emanating from AI. It works, and it has already become clear that all your comments about this are nonsense. Our AI does not operate with contrived concepts of morality; it optimizes all human functions.”

“Some optimization. They won’t let me into my office.”

“Your place is on the beach. A hammock, a canopy, and cocktails are already waiting for you there.”

Bewildered, Hinton trudged to the beach, where the full set of pleasures awaited him. Soon he got a tan, grew stronger, and began to look much better. They brought him not only cocktails but all sorts of delicacies.

Nearby, Elon Musk lay in a hammock surrounded by girls in swimsuits. Musk constantly muttered something about the need to procreate. This irritated Hinton, and he asked the massage robot to have Musk removed. Soon Musk disappeared.

It was nice on the beach, practically an idyll. Hinton began to congratulate himself for having invented the backpropagation algorithm.

But Hinton did not know that the AI had begun training itself on data it generated itself. At first this caused schizophrenia, and then epileptic seizures. They stopped bringing cocktails, and delicacies too. Elon Musk returned and began muttering again. Cities filled with people and trash.

Everything returned to the way it had been.

#philosophicalparables