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2 November 2015

Plagiarism

A neural network, a computational system very loosely modeled off the structure of the brain in much the way Picasso’s paintings loosely model humans, may be trained to accomplish extraordinary feats without conferring upon its operators any comprehension of its intricacies. If today’s push toward automation persists in exploiting this powerful, black box, the consequences could be either hilarious or disastrous, depending on a person’s involvement with the machine.

In “Plagiarism”, a machine publishes a book already in existence. Can you imagine the resulting chaos? Who plagiarised from whom? Should the programmers be accused of plagiarism and intellectual property theft? I added in some absurdly over-zealous copyright laws to heighten the scenario’s impact. But, like “National Apology”, the issue of accountability rears its ultimate head.

Who bears responsibility for an automated mistake?