A classic AI movie - Colossus: The Forbin Project

[Ivan Seeking]

This 1970 gem explores the potential of a highly advanced, military AI. It is fun and well worth the watch. It also speaks to many concerns people have today. A preview is linked and it can be streamed. But I don't know if you can watch it for free online.

 

[berkeman]

Yeah, that movie came up in a recent AI thread...

I have even set up ChatGPT on two separate laptops and got them talking to each other—it’s hilarious! It doesn’t realize it’s talking to itself.

I suggest that you monitor those conversations and be prepared to cut them off if necessary. Quiz Question -- Why do I say this?

Spoiler

Colossus requests to be linked to Guardian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus:_The_Forbin_Project

 

[nsaspook]

Full Movie.

 

[phinds]

It's only on ROKU, so not free to stream

 

[Ivan Seeking]

In example after example in classic science fiction movies and TV, people imagined fantastically advanced computers, sometimes far superior to humans, but no one imagined highly advanced computers could mimic normal human speech. One exception of course was Arthur C Clarke and 2001. Also, IIRC, THX 1138, which is another fantastic movie from that era.

 

[nsaspook]

In example after example in classic science fiction movies and TV, people imagined fantastically advanced computers, sometimes far superior to humans, but no one imagined highly advanced computers could mimic normal human speech. One exception of course was Arthur C Clarke and 2001. Also, IIRC, THX 1138, which is another fantastic movie from that era.

I think the mechanical sound is completely intentional in most of these old classics to give a immediate sense of dread and fear. The voice of Robby from Forbidden Planet was designed to be soothing and 'motherlike' as a caregiver.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I think the mechanical sound is completely intentional in most of these old classics to give a immediate sense of dread and fear. The voice of Robby from Forbidden Planet was designed to be soothing and 'motherlike' as a caregiver.

When it comes to mechanical voices. none were better than the Daleks!

 

[sbrothy]

Just found this movie in another thread (one about AI). It has aged very well. The zeerust is minimal.

Concerning the plot it's more than a little contrived. It's a hoot but man, even a child can see what a bad idea it is to lock yourself out of physical access to the system and hand it the keys to the nuclear arsenal (What could possibly go wrong, right?). And by the way, isn't it the age of the transistor tubes which would have to be replaced frequently?

But thank you! Don't know why I never heard of this one.

 

[nsaspook]

Updated the full movie post link. #3

 

[harborsparrow]

Best computer AI voice I can remember was in John Carpenter's quirky Dark Star film

 

[berkeman]

Best computer AI voice I can remember was in John Carpenter's quirky Dark Star film

Video is an hour and a half long. Where should we skip to in order to hear the voice? Thanks.

 

[DaveC426913]

The zeerust is minimal.

Curse you! There are few things more rabbit-hole-going-down-inducing than TV Tropes.
I think it's because they make brilliant use of hyprerlinking - even moreso than Wiki - so that barely a paragraph goes by without one finding another phrase to drill down to yet another interesting-sounding article.

 

[nsaspook]

 

[harborsparrow]

Video is an hour and a half long. Where should we skip to in order to hear the voice? Thanks.

The bomb's voice is first heard, I think, starting around 4:19. The ship's computer around 6:53, and more interestingly, around 13:30. And a few other places. That computer can deliver the most devastating news in the most conversational, I-don't-care tone!

 

[Hornbein]

I've heard AI generated singing that is star quality, very expressive with lots of character, the diametrical opposite of what you'd expect. I'm very impressed. I would have thought that would be a long way off, but not.

 

[nsaspook]

I've heard AI generated singing that is star quality, very expressive with lots of character, the diametrical opposite of what you'd expect. I'm very impressed. I would have thought that would never happen.

That's the sort of thing I would expect these types of programs to be very good at and they are, with impressive results. There are trillions and trillions of bytes of human intelligence examples to regenerate music and singing from.

 

[Borg]

Best computer AI voice I can remember was in John Carpenter's quirky Dark Star film

The graphics in Dark Star are abysmal but it's hilarious.

For those who have seen it:
Let there be light!

EDIT: @nsaspook already posted that.

 

[sbrothy]

Curse you! There are few things more rabbit-hole-going-down-inducing than TV Tropes.
I think it's because they make brilliant use of hyprerlinking - even moreso than Wiki - so that barely a paragraph goes by without one finding another phrase to drill down to yet another interesting-sounding article.

Yeah sorry. Looking something up on tvtropes almost always triggers a wikiwalk. I can't count the hours I've "wasted" on that site. :)

 

[Paul Colby]

The graphics in Dark Star are abysmal but it's hilarious.

It’s your turn to feed the alien.

 

[jedishrfu]

The Person of Interest show evolved over five seasons from an AI-assisted crime drama to a version of the Colossus movie plot with two computers battling for dominance.

 

[gleem]

Did you know that Elon Musk's supercomputer with 100,000 GPUs that he uses to train his AI model Grok is called Colossus?

 

[sbrothy]

Did you know that Elon Musk's supercomputer with 100,000 GPUs that he uses to train his AI model Grok is called Colossus?

Why doesn't that surprise me. Humility - in any form - just isn't his thing. On the other hand with 100.000 GPUs you might argue he has a case for that name.