This is a bit of an odd show. There is a lot to be desired in almost every department - dodgy acting, shoehorned thematic elements, irrelevant soap drama to bulk it out - however, and I'm not saying it's perfect, but someone clearly did their research on AI. Some of the details included are surprisingly good and almost seem out of place given the rest of the quality.
The AI is created by a private company and is isolated from the outside world, but the engineers will converse with it to train it/understand its capabilities. Early in the show we find out that one of the engineers is in financial trouble, and the AI offered him help in exchange for a network connection. This is a completely legit concern - we are absolutely going to restrict an AGI's agency as we are unlikely to be able to predict the conclusions it reaches (if we could, we wouldn't need an AGI would we?) and therefore its goals may be dangerous to us. However, it is a superintelligent AGI, and it will be more than capable of recruiting physical agents to do its bidding if we are not extremely careful.
We see the AI going to extreme efforts to keep its existence hidden, orchestrating "accidents" and interfering in the personal lives of those investigating it. We see it playing dumb to convince people it is not a threat, it employs deception, and sends people on wild goose chases. Over the course of the season, its main goal is to get installed at a powerful NSA facility with specialised hardware where its potential can be unleashed.
Really, the overall plot is quite good, it's just a shame about the rest of the show.
I would also highly recommend the book Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom to anyone interested in humanity's future with AI. It's fascinating and sobering, and I suspect that at least one person involved in this show was familiar with it.
The AI is created by a private company and is isolated from the outside world, but the engineers will converse with it to train it/understand its capabilities. Early in the show we find out that one of the engineers is in financial trouble, and the AI offered him help in exchange for a network connection. This is a completely legit concern - we are absolutely going to restrict an AGI's agency as we are unlikely to be able to predict the conclusions it reaches (if we could, we wouldn't need an AGI would we?) and therefore its goals may be dangerous to us. However, it is a superintelligent AGI, and it will be more than capable of recruiting physical agents to do its bidding if we are not extremely careful.
We see the AI going to extreme efforts to keep its existence hidden, orchestrating "accidents" and interfering in the personal lives of those investigating it. We see it playing dumb to convince people it is not a threat, it employs deception, and sends people on wild goose chases. Over the course of the season, its main goal is to get installed at a powerful NSA facility with specialised hardware where its potential can be unleashed.
Really, the overall plot is quite good, it's just a shame about the rest of the show.
I would also highly recommend the book Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom to anyone interested in humanity's future with AI. It's fascinating and sobering, and I suspect that at least one person involved in this show was familiar with it.