Demon Seed Doomsday: How Scary Is the AI “Great Pause"?

AI was supposed to make our lives easier. So why does it increasingly feel like we’re living inside a horror movie?In this episode of the mini-series How Scary Is It?, we’re looking at the very real fears surrounding artificial intelligence, from the recent calls for caution and “pauses” in AI development to the question of what happens when we build systems that become more powerful, more autonomous, and harder to control.We’re revisiting Demon Seed (1977), where an AI becomes obsessed with its creator and decides it has a mind (and a future) of its own. Then there’s The Terminator (1984), which gave us perhaps the ultimate AI nightmare: machines that don’t just think, but decide humanity is the problem.And the part that makes this especially creepy? The Terminator takes place in 2029.That’s only three years away.So the big guns are suggesting a pause, but aren’t you a little curious why we’re putting on the breaks only now?That's a very special brand of freaking me out.So… how scary is AI?Very. Probably.If this episode made you want to understand horror a little differently, I've made a guide for exactly that. It's called So You Like Horror… Now What? and it walks you through how to watch horror through the lens of psychology, culture and storytelling. It includes a horror glossary of common horror scholarship terms and a beginners list of horror movies to start your scholarly journey. You can grab it at…”📕So You Like Horror Now What: A Guide to Understanding Horror, Monsters, and Yourself: ⁠https://payhip.com/b/VdMNb💀💀Follow us on Instagram @spooky.scholars💀Join the ongoing conversation and LIVE salon each month at spookyscholars.com🖤Full show notes at patreon.com/spookyscholars