Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence from the 18th Century

Research from the University of Kent (@UniKent) and Aalto University (@AaltoUniversity), Finland, has concluded with four key guidelines for how society should view and utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI), based on fictional scenarios in 18th Century literature. The paper, 'Embodiment in 18th Century Depictions of Human-Machine Co-Creativity', notes that AI is viewed broadly as a tool to enhance creativity, but is actually developed to such sophistication that the AI can become co-creator to the final product. Whilst this is evident in modern computer software, ideas about creative AI feature in many books from the past, particularly in works of fiction, drama and poetry. The 18th Century was the period of the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment across Europe, and many advances were made in the development of'automata' and other robotic systems. The literature of the time reflects this with such broadmindedness that it still highly relevant in our own AI-dominated world.