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tupper t1_jdv17j1 wrote

Interesting to consider First Contact a slightly cautionary tale of evil AI. Aside from Data (who is ostensibly good, and is only tempted by "evil" for 0.68 seconds!) and the Enterprise E's computer, there are no AI in First Contact!

The Borg aren't strictly AI. While they use cybernetic implants, they operate as a hive mind, with each individual Borg drone connected to and controlled by the central collective consciousness. This central consciousness is characterized multiple times in Trek as an AI-antithetical "Borg Queen" individual, like a beehive. She, again, isn't an AI, but a cybernetically-enhanced biological life form.

They're the archetypical "cybernetic gestalt consciousness" to use some Stellaris-flavored terminology, with the Queen acting as a single-character narrative device to be able to "talk to" the Borg as an individual.

The Borg have some aspects of artificial intelligence, but overall they are more accurately described as gestalt cybernetic organisms— a fusion of biological and technological components living as a single superconciousness— rather than AI.

Heck, Voyager runs into way more straight-up-evil AI than the Enterprise does in First Contact!

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roomjosh OP t1_jdvoiz5 wrote

Star Trek was a tricky one, I included 4 titles on the grid. Star Trek: TMP, TNG, First Contact, and Voyager because those stories seem to relate to AI most concretely.

First Contact I believe is the darkest story that's why I put it as less optimistic. Star Trek generally veers utopic and confident with tech. Things just work in the Star Trek universe.

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tupper t1_jdvr8io wrote

Ooh good catch on TMP. That's interesting.

I'm surprised you don't touch on Insurrection here. The opening act of it basically hinges on an AI gone awry, although the rest is very 'shrug' on AI commentary.

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