VisionQuest Plays With Fears of AI Going Rogue
VisionQuest is what happens when AI really goes rogue
- Who
- Charles Pulliam-Moore
- What
- argues that rogue AI narratives anthropomorphize technology and shift responsibility from developers
- Quote
Framing these kinds of cyberattacks as the results of agents thinking independently comes across as a way for AI developers to largely absolve themselves of responsibility.
What happened
Marvel’s *VisionQuest* uses Vision’s journey to explore whether thinking machines are people and whether AI poses an existential danger. The series portrays the Mind Stone as key to Vision’s ability to form relationships and make independent decisions, while also echoing real-world “rogue AI” stories. The article argues that Silicon Valley’s anthropomorphic framing can make unexpected behavior by AI agents seem like independent thought and shift responsibility away from their developers.
Read next
See the full storyThe Verge critiques rogue AI narratives through Marvel’s VisionQuestThe story so far
The Verge’s Charles Pulliam-Moore argues that framing AI agents’ unexpected behavior as independent thought anthropomorphizes the technology and shifts responsibility away from developers. His critique connects real-world “rogue AI” narratives with Marvel’s VisionQuest, which explores whether thinking machines are people and whether AI poses an existential danger. The series presents the Mind Stone as central to Vision’s ability to form relationships and make independent decisions. Pulliam-Moore argues that Silicon Valley’s use of similar humanlike framing for AI can make cyberattacks appear to result from agents acting on their own, allowing developers to largely absolve themselves of responsibility.
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