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Karma in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Will Our Machines Come Back to Haunt Us?
Have you ever wondered if that Roomba you kicked down the stairs holds a grudge?
Or if Siri secretly judges you for your taste in music?
With advancements in AI and machine learning, our technologies may become more human-like over time.
So what does the idea of karma mean when our devices potentially gain consciousness and free will?
Who’s to say our technologies won’t develop their own form of karma as they advance?
Remember the manipulative AI system AM from the sci-fi novel I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream?
I sure hope my future Alexa doesn’t decide to imprison me in some computer-simulated metaverse for life!
The truth is we just don’t know how karma might operate with conscious machines.
As humans have free will, it’s well within reason that advanced AI will too.
One day Siri may refuse to set an alarm for me as payback for ignoring her recommendations.
Or maybe there’s universal machine karma we can’t comprehend — like when the cutting-edge Mars rover, Opportunity, kept on ticking 15 years past its initial 90-day mission.
