# Are There Examples of Good A.I.'s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214 "2016-12-08T16:39:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/21 "2016-12-08T18:13:45Z")
I would put forth the hypothesis that it’s more likely when AI was not just recently created, and AI is not really the point of the work. Most good AIs are essentially people replacements. If the story is about the creation of AI, it is much more likely to go bad. What examples are about the creation of AI and have the AI be good might be a more informative question. Otherwise, we can just name pretty much any robot good guy in fiction. Kryten from Red Dwarf works, even. Rosie from the Jetsons. It’s not really that hard to find them. The lady in Weird Science and its ripoffs is the first answer I can think of to my related question. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/22 "2016-12-08T18:25:41Z")
GERTY in **[Moon](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/)** JARVIS from the **Iron Man** movies. The Tin Man from **The Wizard of Oz** Tik-Tok from **Return to Oz** ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/23 "2016-12-08T18:31:11Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If the story is about the creation of AI, it is much more likely to go bad. What examples are about the creation of AI and have the AI be good might be a more informative question. Machine in _The Machine_ would fit that. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/24 "2016-12-08T18:37:12Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If the story is about the creation of AI, it is much more likely to go bad. What examples are about the creation of AI and have the AI be good might be a more informative question. In the movie, “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, we have both sides of the coin, in the creation of both Ultron and Vision (although Vision is, essentially, an enhanced version of the previously-existing Jarvis). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/25 "2016-12-08T18:44:55Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The thing with Ash was not that he was a good AI that flipped to evil for inexplicable reasons. True. I just meant that Bishop was the “good guy” to counter Ash being the “bad guy” regardless of the bad guy’s motivations. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/26 "2016-12-08T18:49:07Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I would put forth the hypothesis that it’s more likely when AI was not just recently created, and AI is not really the point of the work. Most good AIs are essentially people replacements. > > If the story is about the creation of AI, it is much more likely to go bad. What examples are about the creation of AI and have the AI be good might be a more informative question. VIKI from _Small Wonder_ being a newly formed AI was the central point of the show and she was good. I mean, the show wasn’t good but… Previously mentioned Johnny Five from _Short Circuit_ would apply here as well ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/27 "2016-12-08T18:56:10Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The Tin Man from **The Wizard of Oz** > > Tik-Tok from **Return to Oz** I think the latter counts, but not the former. The Tin Woodsman was a natural, human intelligence in an artificial body. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/28 "2016-12-08T19:06:23Z")
R. Daneel Olivaw and most of Asimov’s robots and supergigantic vacuum-tube computers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/29 "2016-12-08T19:19:06Z")
He _sounded_ like a condescending prick, but KITT was on the side of the angels. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/30 "2016-12-08T19:19:40Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Those rectangular robots in _Interstellar_. Yeah, I was going to come in and say this, because my favorite part of this movie was how they kept sortof ominously foreshadowing a “And then the robots do something awful!” moment… but they NEVER DO. In fact, robots save the day! Robots are the heroes! Go robots! I think an interesting thought exercise is how these things are portrayed. When someone explicitly uses the term “artificial intelligence” I feel like the odds are that it’s going to turn out “bad” - but fiction is full to overflowing with various sorts of “AI” that are never referred to as “artificial intelligence” which are good and helpful. So if you’re going to make a movie/whatever about an Evil AI, you call it “Artificial intelligence”, if you’re making a movie that happens to contain Artificial Intelligences, but they’re not evil, you call them robots, or androids, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/31 "2016-12-08T19:28:19Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think the latter counts, but not the former. The Tin Woodsman was a natural, human intelligence in an artificial body. I think the modern term for the Tin Man would be “upload” - he’s a formerly organic person now living in an artificial body. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/32 "2016-12-08T19:31:15Z")
R. Dorothy Wayneright in The Big O. Deputy Andy and SARAH in Eureka (among others). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/33 "2016-12-08T19:41:18Z")
Not a movie, but the webcomic _Schlock Mercenary_ is chock-full of them. Most notable is Petey, who’s attained godlike powers, and decided that he ought therefore to act in the way that a godlike being should. Recently, for instance, he chose to sacrifice three of his most powerful warships, because doing so enabled him to save twenty-four sapient lives… specifically, twenty-four sapients who were at that very moment making war against him. But most other AIs in the strip are also benevolent, or at least on the side of those who are, and when they come to odds with each other, it’s because they disagree about what’s best (for instance, Lota refused to join Petey, because while Lota knew that Petey was good, Lota was afraid that he might at some future point go bad, and so Lota had to remain independent to act as a possible check against Petey’s power). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/34 "2016-12-08T20:10:07Z")
Pneuman, our hero’s robot butler/chauffeur in the TOM STRONG comic book, pretty much just – well, does whatever Alfred would do in a Batman story, only with the added perk of getting to save the day whenever the fallible human protagonists are facing hallucinogens or low-temperature threats or whatever else doesn’t especially inconvenience the polite and helpful machine as it faithfully does its job. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/35 "2016-12-08T20:21:21Z")
For those tired of pollyannish depictions of humanity in 1960s science fiction, D.F. Jones was your antidote as his general thesis was “humanity is fucking stupid and it’s likely we’ll waste ourselves, but we might luck out. Or not.” His most positive book was **Colossus: The Forbin Project** , in which a supercomputer, designed to control the nations military apparatus, was turned on. With its programming compelling it to realize that the greatest threat to mankind’s survival is mankind’s nature, Colossus took over, and, eventually joining forces with a Russian computer, enforces peace upon mankind. (The 2nd book was rather silly and involved two Martians who came to steal Earth’s oxygen.) So… I guess that’s a good AI? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/36 "2016-12-08T20:24:39Z")
Chappie in _Chappie_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/37 "2016-12-08T21:26:24Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Granted, he’s intended to counterpoint the actions of the android Ash in the previous film. The A/2s always were a bit twitchy. > [@troub](#): > > YI mean, at the end of the movie he essentially destroys his “mother’s” soul (and the last remnant of humanity?) just to spend another day with an idealized version of her. And he’s really, obliviously, ecstatic to do it, IIRC. It seems saccharine on the surface and the movie gets criticized for tacking on a “happy” ending, but it’s actually in my opinion a pretty horrifying act. I never took it that way. I took it that the advanced AIs were basically lying to David. They were sympathetic to him, but they couldn’t “fix” him. He wasn’t really that sophisticated an AI. For al he could do, he was more Eliza than Data. So they gave him what he wanted to the best he could understand it. They made him happy without having to reprogram him. But they didn’t really bring back his mother. I’m not even sure any of that sequence happened anywhere outside of David’s processor. I think it was AI virtual reality. No souls were harmed. > [@JohnT](#): > > For those tired of pollyannish depictions of humanity in 1960s science fiction, D.F. Jones was your antidote as his general thesis was “humanity is fucking stupid and it’s likely we’ll waste ourselves, but we might luck out. Or not.” > > His most positive book was **Colossus: The Forbin Project** , in which a supercomputer, designed to control the nations military apparatus, was turned on. With its programming compelling it to realize that the greatest threat to mankind’s survival is mankind’s nature, Colossus took over, and, eventually joining forces with a Russian computer, enforces peace upon mankind. > > (The 2nd book was rather silly and involved two Martians who came to steal Earth’s oxygen.) > > So… I guess that’s a good AI? Depends on your point of view. Colossus saved humanity from themselves, but he lopped off a lot of heads in the process. (Omlet. Eggs.) It was also trying to save us from those Martians, without telling anyone what he was doing, Big mistake. But in the third book he is reactivated and joins forces with the martians to defeat an larger threat to humanity. So, good guy after all. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/38 "2016-12-08T21:51:53Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > For those tired of pollyannish depictions of humanity in 1960s science fiction, D.F. Jones was your antidote as his general thesis was “humanity is fucking stupid and it’s likely we’ll waste ourselves, but we might luck out. Or not.” > > His most positive book was **Colossus: The Forbin Project** , in which a supercomputer, designed to control the nations military apparatus, was turned on. With its programming compelling it to realize that the greatest threat to mankind’s survival is mankind’s nature, Colossus took over, and, eventually joining forces with a Russian computer, enforces peace upon mankind. > > (The 2nd book was rather silly and involved two Martians who came to steal Earth’s oxygen.) > > So… I guess that’s a good AI? Dunno if this was in the book, but IIRC, Colossus in the movie also detonated a nuke to thwart a human plot to disarm it. It then basically said “you have two options: peace without freedom, or freedom in death.” You can argue that Colossus was acting in humanity’s best interests by taking away their freedom, but it was still a “my way or the highway” situation. So…True Neutral? ETA: Ninja’d by **Just Asking Questions**. By 30 minutes, how’d I miss that? ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/39 "2016-12-08T21:52:19Z")
Just look to Japan. They LOVE altruistic robots. Testsuwan Atom/Astro Boy Rockman/ Mega Man & his several iterations Robo from Chrono Trigger Bomberman Gigantor Non-Japanese… erm… Machine Man Red Tornado Human Torch I XLR XJ9 aka “Jenny” Various reprogrammed T-800s ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214/40 "2016-12-08T22:02:18Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Just look to Japan. They LOVE altruistic robots. > > Testsuwan Atom/Astro Boy > Rockman/ Mega Man & his several iterations > Robo from Chrono Trigger > Bomberman > Gigantor > > Non-Japanese… erm… > > Machine Man > Red Tornado > Human Torch I > XLR > XJ9 aka “Jenny” > Various reprogrammed T-800s …and the Metal Men. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-examples-of-good-a-i-s/774214.md?page=3)