Has Open AI’s messy GPT-5 rollout gotten you down? Is xAI’s poor handling of Grok’s ‘MechaHitler’ comment giving you pause about chatbots? We’re pessimistic about the effect such AI models—a new type of monster?—will have on the future of humankind, but in the meantime, here’s some information about how the field of computer science has consistently drawn on monsters from classical myth.
From fifty-headed primordial monstrous canine to three-headed pet of Hades, Cerberus is renowned for being the vicious guard dog of the Greek and Roman underworld, tasked with keeping the dead in and the living out. But his reputation seems largely unearned, given the rather large number of live humans who managed to infiltrate Hades.
Today’s guest, Dr. Anactoria Clarke, is on the Regional Academic Staff of The Open University, UK, where she is a Staff Tutor in English Literature. Dr. Clarke has not one but two PhDs, the first in English Literature and the second in Classics!