Too Cold for Humanity, Just Right for A.I.?

I'm doing everything I can to avoid stepping outside.

As I sit here in Minnesota on what is hopefully the coldest day of the year—because if it gets any worse, I may have to declare hibernation—I’m doing everything I can to avoid stepping outside. It’s -20°F, with a wind chill that makes it feel like my soul is freezing. Even my coffee is giving up, cooling down the second it leaves the mug.

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Naturally, my frozen brain has turned to artificial intelligence. Unlike me, A.I. doesn’t care about windchill. It doesn’t need a scarf, gloves, or regret about living in the Midwest. It just keeps working, generating text, creating art, and slowly inching toward the point where we might have to ask: At what point does an A.I. deserve rights?

It’s the kind of question science fiction has been tackling for decades—most famously in Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Captain Picard had to prove that Data was more than just a machine. Now, with new A.I. systems emerging every day, that question is creeping out of fiction and into reality.

So, in an effort to ignore the frostbite waiting outside my door, I decided to explore the ethics of A.I. rights, how sci-fi has handled it, and what it could mean for our future. Check out my latest article and let me know: Should we start drafting A.I. bill of rights, or are we getting ahead of ourselves?

Either way, I’ll be staying indoors until spring.

About Leif J. Erickson

Leif J. Erickson is a science fiction and fantasy author from a small farming community in west central Minnesota. Using his time wisely when he was a farmer, Leif developed many ideas, characters, and storylines to create over fifty unique first drafts and outlines for stories. From his start in a small town school, to college at North Dakota State University, back to his family farm, then to the bright lights of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and back to his small farming town, Leif has always had a love of writing.

When Leif isn’t writing he can be found with his wife hiking in state parks, canoeing local lakes and rivers, exploring local and regional ghost towns, experiencing museums, or simply reading or hanging out with friends and family. Leif draws on the local nature and ecology to find inspiration for his writing while he also asks what’s possible for technology and the human race, weaving them together for amazing stories that will stay with the reader for years to come. Leif looks forward to having many novel and story releases in the years to come.

You can see all of Leif’s Books here: Leif’s Amazon Author Page