Scientists Train AI to Be Evil, Find They Can’t Reverse It::How hard would it be to train an AI model to be secretly evil? As it turns out, according to Anthropic researchers, not very.
On the point about why they didn’t use cows instead of humans as an energy source. I think I’ve read that in the original conception of the Matrix, the humans’ brains were meant to be used for computation for the machines, rather than the humans being energy sources. This was changed since computers were new to the general public in 1999 and it was believed the concept would be too confusing.
It’s also kind of important to remember that ultimately, it’s a metaphor. The specific scifi handwave is just there to justify the whole “Humans as a disposable resource” imagery that exists to underpin the film’s anticapitalist themes. The Wachowskis never really cared for subtlety, and I don’t blame them. Even the obvious goes over most people’s heads.
