Nicole Brandon is an AHRC-funded PhD English student at the University of Dundee, and you could say her research aims to stop SKYNET.
‘What We Dream Comes to Fruition’ is exploring how science-fiction narratives about artificial intelligence (AI) can affect how it is developed and deployed in real life. Her research investigates science-fiction from around the world, to discover how the ways different cultures imagine AI can inspire increased diversity of thought, expectation and experience regarding AI in the UK. Nobody wants the genocidal AI from Terminator, SKYNET, yet that concept is a “go-to” springboard for imagining AI for millions of people. What could change, if that changed?