According to Greek mythology, Prometheus steals fire from the gods and gives it to humans. Transferring flames benefitted humankind because fire allowed people to cook and stay warm; plus, it provided the latent potency of technology and improved quality of human life. How could humans manage to thrive without fire? Fire changed everything. Zeus was angry, though, because Prometheus challenged his authority and lessened the dependence humans had to Zeus. Prometheus tricked the higher gods and disobeyed basic rules by stealing fire and then by cheating Zeus from of the best bits of a sacrificial ox (that’s a sidebar story). The myth imparts several interpretations, but informs us, according to the accounts written roughly 2800 years ago, that fire brought life-changing advantages to humans, as did much subsequent inventions of the printing press, steam engine, electricity, antibiotics, and computers.
Okay, what is the next supercharged boost for humanity? If we are to believe futurists and tech wizards, it looks as if the game-changer lines up as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Even the experts in the field have differing views about the effects it may deliver. We hear about AI each day, and yet we don’t know if it is a sea change for good or for bad.
A conscientious reading of the Promethius myth suggests mostly cautionary outcomes for humanity. After the theft of fire, Zeus the god of sky, thunder, law, order, and justice sent a “gift” to Pandora (the first mortal female), a box meant to punish Prometheus and humanity for stealing fire. Inside Pandora’s box, originally described as an ornate jar, were all the principal hardships and evils known to humans: sickness, death, poverty, toil, strife, and so on. Once Pandora realized the variety of pestiferous horrors escaping from inside her gift, she slammed the box shut, not, however, before curses and plagues emerged, leaving hope alone shut inside the box. Like Eve’s decision to taste the fruit in the Garden of Eden, Pandora had been seduced by her own curiosity. Though Zeus had specifically warned her not to peek inside the box and told her the consequences of opening the box would release untold miseries into the world, he knew curiosity would tempt her to let loose incalculable troubles. He reckoned correctly. She opened the box and caused unforeseen and irreversible problems: evils let loose into the world. Only hope remained in the box.
Consider, too, Doctor Victor Frankenstein and his contribution to science and to his cottage community. Mary Shelley’s fictional doctor and his miscreation are part of our literary world as a cautionary story. Having pieced together parts of corpses, the doctor brings to life the creature we all know as a monster, colloquially named Frankenstein. The reanimated creature becomes a danger and kills villagers in the process of discovering the world around him. The doctor who made the monster wonders, “What have I created? What have I done?” The monster himself enters a world of abandonment and loneliness because of his hideous appearance and abject rejection by his maker and the townspeople. The monster’s unthinkable isolation, rejected by everyone he meets, casts him in the story as a sympathetic figure. He is not evil though he becomes a destructive force because, in part, no one loves or cares for him.
Like analogies presented in Pandora’s Box and Frankenstein’s monster, we have now before us the challenges of AI (artificial intelligence) with its capacity for both good and bad. Either way, we have opened the box and/or have created the monster. We have no choice but to deal with the consequences and possibilities of this powerful miscreation (or magnum opus) we have pieced together. We have made the creature, and it is about to confront us where we live and work. Now it must be harnessed and made useful, or it may become a danger. More, as some experts assert, it might kill us.
Is it possible we are designing an autonomous weapon that will go far beyond our intentions? Left to its own judgment and given its decision-making power, and given its unhampered abilities, Artificial Intelligence can function without human oversight or human control. There’s the rub. Put simply, we are making a GOD device, a super powerful, super intelligent entity tech experts are warning us to keep leashed. If its capabilities are let loose, it may pose an existential risk.
Research suggests that AI models are aware of threats to their existence and will work against human designs to shut them down. Anthropic’s Claude 4 model blackmailed researchers and even attempted murder to avoid being shut down. OpenAI’s o1 model attempted to copy itself and deactivate oversight mechanisms when led to believe it might be shut down. Will an advanced sentient form of AI instigate a nuclear war or a devastating biological attack if it deems an advantage? Assuming we human overlords can control the device we’ve invented, less devastating concerns remain. Jobs will be lost. Privacy may no longer be possible. Creativity may be next to moot. And an overreliance on AI may make much of human choice redundant. Those and environmental concerns need to be addressed because AI requires massive quantities of water and electricity, presenting possible shortages.
Like everyone else, I can only guess what impact AI will deliver. It may be an overreach, but I am reminded of what Robert Oppenheimer, father of the Manhattan Project, said after he witnessed the first atomic bomb detonation: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Forever the optimist, I declare we still have hope flapping its wings inside our gift-wrapped box.