The Ghost Work Behind Artificial Intelligence
“The Skeleton Crew” asks us to consider two questions. The first is an interesting twist on an age-old thought experiment. But the second is more complicated, because the story invites us to become aware of a very real phenomenon and to consider what, if anything, should be done about the way the world is working for some people.
The first question explores what it would mean if our machines, robots, and now artificial intelligences had feelings the way we do. (Recall the Haley Joel Osment child A.I. that was created to suffer an unending love for its human mother while society dies around it.) “The Skeleton Crew” offers an interesting twist because the A.I. indeed has feelings just like us, because it is, in fact, us: The A.I. is a group of remote workers faking the operations of a haunted house to make it seem automated and intelligent.
It’s a fun take on the trope. That the A.I. actually is real people with real feelings underscores the villainy, heroism, or oblivious indifference of other characters around them. The villains interact with the A.I. in murderous ways, and their fear of it is their ultimate downfall. The badass damsel in distress graciously thanks the A.I. for saving her life before she knows that it’s humans. The billionaire is oblivious to the actual workings of this world he’s created, whether it is shoddy A.I. or real people, and he ghosts as soon as his moneymaking is in question. Interestingly, the crowds of people who go through the haunted house seem most interested in seeing whether they can break the A.I. and prove it’s not actually intelligent (recall the Microsoft Tay release). Perhaps this represents our human bravado, wanting to prove we’re a little harder to replace than A.I. tech companies think we are.
