“You are my creator, but I am your master.” These chilling words from Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein were first published on January 1, 1818, during the First Industrial Revolution; a period of great social and technological change. Considered by many to be the first work of science fiction, the story influenced not only literature, drama, and film but also the public's perception of science.
2018 marks Frankenstein’s 200th anniversary, and at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the myth of creature turning on creator seems more relevant than ever before. Having escaped the laboratories of many tech companies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to change our society for good. While human-level AI is not yet looming around the corner, we constantly carry some form of AI in our pockets today. The irony is that Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, while comparable to Frankenstein in so many ways, aren’t perceived to be frightening characters. Rather, these AI enhanced assistants have…
