August 04, 2024
The 1960s Novella That Got AI (Mostly) Right
A secret military project. A vast artificial mind. Questions of consciousness. These form the premise of Dino Buzzati’s The Singularity, originally published in 1960 at the dawn of the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The novella follows Italian scientist Ermanno Ismani, summoned by the Ministry of Defense to work on a top-secret project, as he ventures with his wife, Elisa, to a sprawling machine hidden in the mountains of the Italian countryside. The machine’s intelligence far surpasses that of humans—and its creators claim that the machine has come alive.
The reality is that AI systems won’t have to break out and take over civilization; they are already connected to the internet and increasingly embedded in our lives.
Written a half-century before the deep-learning revolution, much of the technology in The Singularity is delightfully retro, calling back to the early Cold War era of secret military projects, atomic weapons, and computers that filled entire rooms and ran on punch cards. Yet Buzzati’s prescient story, told in a new translation by Anne Milano Appel, is buzzing with many issues that society still grapples with today. Namely, Buzzati’s characters struggle to grasp the magnitude and consequences of the machine they have built.
Read the full article and more from Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
Technology & National Security
Global Compute and National SecurityExecutive Summary The current pathway to breakthrough artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities relies on amassing and leveraging vast “compute”—specialized chips housed withi...
By Janet Egan
-
Technology & National Security
'The Country Which Throws More Money Into Big Data Centres...': Expert On Why U.S. Is Leading AI RaceWhy is America leading the AI race, despite China's introduction of Deepseek and their hectic efforts to compete? Well, Vivek Chilukuri of the Centre for a New American Securi...
By Vivek Chilukuri
-
Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
America’s New Plan to Defeat China in the AI Race | Trump | Xi JinpingIn an exclusive HT Podcast video interview, Vivek Chilukuri of the Center for a New American Security gives insight into the rapidly evolving global race for artificial intell...
By Vivek Chilukuri
-
Technology & National Security
AI Action Plan: Janet Egan, Jessica Brandt, Neil Chilson, and Tim FistJanet Egan, senior fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security and Tim Fist, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a N...
By Janet Egan & Tim Fist