Boys from a Suitcase: AI Concepts in USSR Science Fiction: The Evil Robot and the Funny Robot

Abstract

This chapter surveys the history of artificial intelligence (AI) in Soviet science fiction from 1924-1991. It identifies three plot trends. First, it investigates the trope of AI as the new proletariat through its use as cheap labour: such machines would consider humankind their oppressors, and eventually attempt to destroy them. This trend was initially adapted from Karel Capek’s R.U.R. (1921) in the light of the 1917 revolution. Second, it looks at AI as an instrument used by bourgeois society to further exploit the proletariat. This trend supported the Soviet ideology that condemned cybernetics. Third, it explores the idea that people would want AI to acquire emotions and understand human norms and values. This trend emerged during the golden age of Soviet science fiction, which began in 1957 and was influenced by Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot (1950). The TV series The Adventures of Electronic (1980) shows that these trends consolidated into two stereotypes: the evil robot and the funny robot.