To HAL and Back—and Forward? (The Dystopian Future of Artificial Intelligence), by Russell Shaw

By Russell Shaw, Catholic World Report, November 25, 2024

Russell Shaw was secretary for public affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference from 1969 to 1987. He is the author of 20 books, including Nothing to Hide, American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America, Eight Popes and the Crisis of Modernity, and, most recently, The Life of Jesus Christ (Our Sunday Visitor, 2021).

The potential dangers of artificial intelligence are causing serious people to sound warning bells.

Remember HAL? For those whose memories may not go back that far, HAL (Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer) was the murderous artificial intelligence machine in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Based on stories by Arthur C. Clarke, the movie contains a segment in which HAL deliberately causes the deaths of several astronauts in outer space.

HAL’s villainy was fictitious, but 56 years later it’s a different story. Artificial intelligence has moved ahead by leaps and bounds, so that now, although no such machine is known to be exhibiting homicidal tendencies, the potential dangers of artificial intelligence are causing serious people to sound warning bells. …