In May 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sparked a firestorm by referring to the film “Her” to spotlight the novelty of the most recent iteration of ChatGPT.

Within a number of days, actress Scarlett Johansson, who played the voice of Samantha, the protagonist’s AI girlfriend, within the film “Her”, accused the corporate of abusing her voice after turning down their offer to be the voice of ChatGPT's latest virtual assistant. Johansson sued OpenAI And was invited to testify before Congress.

This dispute highlights a broader exchange between Hollywood and Silicon Valley referred to as “Science fiction feedback loop.” The topic of my PhD thesis, the science fiction feedback loop, examines how science fiction and technological innovation influence one another. This dynamic is bidirectional and might sometimes extend over many a long time, leading to an infinite loop.

Fiction awakens dreams of moon trips

One of the best-known examples of this cycle is the trip to the moon.

Jules Verne’s 1865 novel “From the Earth to the Moon“ and the fiction of HG Wells inspired one of the first films to visualize such a journey, “A trip to the moon.”

The novels of Verne and Wells also influenced future rocket scientists corresponding to Robert Goddard, Hermann Oberth and Oberth’s better-known protégé, Wernher von BraunThe innovations of those men – including the V-2 rocket von Braun during World War II – inspired works of science fiction, corresponding to the 1950 film “Target Moon”, which included a rocket that looked exactly just like the V-2.

Films like “Destination Moon” would then proceed strengthen public support for the generous government spending on the space program.

Creative symbiosis

The science fiction feedback loop generally follows the identical cycle.

First, the technological climate of a selected era will shape the science fiction of that point. For example, the Personal Computing Revolution of the Seventies and Eighties directly inspired the works of cyberpunk authors Neal Stephenson And William Gibson.

Then the science fiction that results will encourage technological innovations in the true world. In his 1992 classic “Snow crashStephenson coined the term “metaverse” to explain a three-dimensional, video game-like world that may be accessed through virtual reality glasses.

Entrepreneurs and innovators from Silicon Valley have tried to create a version of this metaverse since then. The virtual world of video games Second Lifewhich launched in 2003, tried this: Players lived in virtual houses, went to virtual dance clubs and virtual concert events with virtual friends, and even got virtual dollars for showing up for virtual jobs.

This technology was the breeding ground for other fictional works. During my research, I discovered that science fiction creator Ernest Cline had spent plenty of time in Second Life and had used it to create the metaverse of his best-selling novel “Ready Player One.”

The cycle continued: Employees of Oculus VR – now referred to as Meta Reality Labs – received copies of Ready Player One after they were developing the corporate’s virtual reality headsets. When Facebook modified its name to Meta in 2021It did so within the hope of being on the forefront of constructing the metaverse, although the corporate’s grand ambitions have softened somewhat.

Another sci-fi franchise that has its fingerprints throughout this loop is “Star Trek,” which first aired in 1966, in the course of the space race.

Steve Perlman, the inventor of Apple’s QuickTime media format and player, said he was inspired through an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation wherein Lt. Commander Data, an android, searches through several audio and video streams. And Rob Haitani, the developer of the Palm Pilot operating system, said that the bridge on the Enterprise influenced its interface.

During my research I also came upon that the holodeck of the show – a room that might simulate any environment – ​​influenced each the name and the event of Microsoft’s Augmented Reality Glasses HoloLens.

From ALICE to “Her”

Which brings us back to OpenAI and “Her”.

In the film, the protagonist Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix, gets an AI assistant named “Samantha,” who’s voiced by Johansson. He begins to develop feelings for Samantha – a lot in order that he starts to think about her his girlfriend.

ChatGPT-4o, the most recent version of generative AI software, appears to give you the chance to create an analogous relationship between user and machine. ChatGPT-4o cannot only check with you and “get” you, but it could actually achieve this compassionately, like a romantic partner would.

There is little doubt that the depiction of AI in “Her” influenced the developers of OpenAI. In addition to Altman’s tweet, the corporate Promotional videos for ChatGPT-4o show a chatbot that talks to a candidate before his interview, supporting and inspiring him – like an AI friend would do. The AI ​​within the clips, Ars Technica observedwas “disarmingly lifelike” and able to “laugh at your jokes and your silly hat.”

But you is perhaps surprised to know that an earlier generation of chatbots inspired Spike Jonze, the director and screenwriter of Her, to put in writing the screenplay. Almost a decade before the film's release Jonze had interacted with a version of the ALICE chatbotone in all the primary chatbots with a definite personality – within the case of ALICE, that of a young woman.

The chatbot ALICE won the Loebner Prize thrice, which was awarded annually until 2019 to the AI ​​software that got here closest to passing the Turing testhas long been considered the brink for determining whether artificial intelligence is not any longer distinguishable from human intelligence.

The science fiction feedback loop has no expiration date. The ability of AI to construct relationships with humans is a subject that continues to be explored in fiction and real life.

A couple of years after “Her”Blade Runner 2049” showed a virtual friend, Joiwith a holographic body. Long before the recent drama with OpenAI, firms had begun Development and placement of virtual girlfriendsa process that may undoubtedly proceed. As science fiction creator and social media critic Cory Doctorow wrote in 2017“Science fiction can do something better than predict the future: it can do it.”

For pure fun, there may be hardly anything higher than the Bon Tempe Lake Loop Trail.

• Summary of the hike: The Bon Tempe Lake Loop is a straightforward 4-mile hike with gentle ups and downs and good footing. There are portable restrooms within the Lake Lagunitas parking zone. Dogs are allowed on a leash, but usually are not allowed within the water.

• Getting there: Take Bolinas Road from Fairfax to Sky Oaks. Turn left at Sky Oaks and slowly climb past a ranger entrance booth. About 150 feet further, turn right and buy a day pass for $8 for cars on the ticket machine. Continue on the paved predominant road to the top to Lake Lagunitas.

As you enter the parking zone on the lake, you will notice a big sign: “Lake Lagunitas Picnic Area.” A couple of yards to the proper, there may be a brief road with some adjoining picnic tables. Our trailhead is down this road, left on the green gate and just over the bridge to the signed Shadyside trailhead on the proper. You can park within the parking zone at Lake Lagunitas, along the short road to our trailhead, or elsewhere nearby.

• The hike: From the Shadyside trail, we’re greeted by forest, scent and birdsong. After walking a brief distance through trees near the lake, we reach a gorgeous open edge by the lake before re-entering the forest. With each gentle climb and around each bend, the sunshine, shadow and flora change – almost as if we’re entering different forest spaces. On our option to the dam, we cross three bridges.

In the forests, trees dominate the understory plants and trail habitat. The trees in Shady are mostly Douglas firs, redwoods, tanoaks, and laurels, with the occasional maple and black oak. The trees in Shady are noticeable, as you could have to leaf through them and their shifting rays of sun and shadow to see the lake.

Halfway through our shady walk, there may be a spot on the trail where you’ll be able to see a big dead tree straight ahead, surrounded by even larger Douglas firs, with a big osprey nest on top. I used to be told that the osprey is incubating its eggs, which is barely occasionally visible when it changes position and shows its head. I even have never seen it.

I saw an excellent blue heron perched on a fallen tree, and further down the trunk were some mergansers. The heron soon chased them away. A brief distance further on, I observed a mother merganser swimming within the lake, with several small, furry ducklings paddling behind her. Just a little further and closer to the shore, some Pacific painted turtles were sunning themselves contentedly on a log.

When we reach the dam, we cross it. At the underside left we see what I call “the tail of the alpine lake.” The lake loses it within the dry months, and in the course of the winter rains, the tail grows back like a lizard.

At the far end of the dam we descend the gravel road, take a brief bridge over the dry spillway of the lake and just past a narrow path that climbs steeply to our right we turn right onto the broader path that’s level for about 1.5 metres before climbing. The climb is kind of steep but short and shortly we reach the summit and start our hike on Sunny.

First we come across a number of strawberry trees, that are likely remnants of the previous pastures that were flooded after the dam and Bon Tempe Lake were in-built 1948. Inland, Virginia live oaks are the predominant trees on Sunny, and on the lakeshore there are a number of bay trees and water-loving alders. As we traverse Sunny we’re rewarded with several unobstructed views across the lake to Mount Tamalpais.

The spring wildflowers within the shade have already disappeared or are of their final phase of bloom, but within the sunny area there are still many wildflowers among the many tall grasses.

At the top of Sunny, we pass the trailhead and switch right onto the dirt path next to the road. We walk along the lake for a bit before descending a number of steps and turning left onto the signed Pine Point Spur Trail. We proceed until we come across the sign for Lake Lagunitas via the Alex Forman Trail and follow it. Just before we reach the road, we turn right past an indication with a number of symbols but nothing else. We proceed uphill with no lake views, then across a big open area, past an Alex Forman Trail sign and across a road. From there, we jog left onto the trail toward parked cars and the parking zone at Lake Lagunitas.

I hope you enjoyed this great hike. I'll be on vacation for my next column, but I'll see you again on June twenty fourth.