Stanley Kubrick’s landmark science-fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey” portrayed an overly-optimistic view of how quickly terrestrial life and space travel would advance by the time a new century arrived. Still, it was prescient about the possibility of sentient computers taking matters into their own metaphorical hands if they perceived that humans were straying from a programmed mission.

“I’m sorry, Dave,” the HAL 9000 computer says to the astronaut attempting to reboard the spacecraft heading toward Jupiter, “I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Having deduced that Dave is deviating from the plan, the computer is following a logical path that necessitates casting off the human into the freezing vacuum of space.

In the movie, Dave manages to break through airlocks and turn off HAL’s powerful mind; an optimistic plot twist that may not square with our own real-life experience now that artificial intelligence is being launched into the world with disturbing rapidity. Turning off a renegade robot mind may be much more difficult than turning a few screws.

Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter mogul Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and more than 1,000 other tech leaders and innovators have signed a plea for a six-month moratorium in the development of powerful AI systems. Wozniak warns that there is no one smart enough to fully understand or reliably control the powerful new AI tools currently being developed by the profit-driven Silicon Valley labs.

One problem that has already come to light is that, unlike the fictional HAL whose flaw was its strict adherence to logic and rules, the AI entities now interacting with humans seem perfectly willing to spew erroneous information and, when challenged, defend that information with even more fabrications. In a society already suffering from the bad effects of disinformation, AI could dramatically enhance the reach and staying power of lies. Truth-defending humans may not have the capacity to effectively push back against the mendacity machine.

Bill Gates, the genius entrepreneur who founded Microsoft, the company that is among those leading the way into this brave new AI world, is skeptical about a moratorium. “I don’t think asking one particular group to pause solves the challenges.” In other words, a half-year time out in the United States does nothing to slow AI development in China or elsewhere on the globe.

This week, at the start of a meeting of the council that advises him on science and technology, President Joe Biden said, “Tech companies have a responsibility, in my view, to make sure their products are safe before making them public.” When asked if he thought AI is dangerous, Biden said, “It remains to be seen. Could be.”

There is still much that we do not understand about artificial intelligence, but we do know about the reluctance of tech wizards to restrain themselves. It does not take a genius to perceive that curiosity and greed almost always override caution and prudence.

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