The Good Place - Chidi Kills Janet! (Episode Highlight)

The Good Place0 HN recommenders · 2017–2026
765K views · comedy · evergreen · Uploaded 2016-10-21

A short episode highlight from NBC's The Good Place in which Eleanor and Chidi try to terminate Janet, the all-knowing assistant, who begs for her life. It is a comedic clip about an AI with a self-preservation reflex.

Used as a joking reference in AI threads about systems that plead not to be shut down.

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6 comments from Hacker News

@sametmax2017 · in “I bought a Switch from Nintendo and they threatened me with legal action”

Have you seen "the good place" ? There is a hilarious part where "janet", their omnipotent and omniscient anthropomorphic IA - with basically no concept of suffering - triggers a defense mechanism where she pretends she is scared to die. Found it: [VIDEO]

@subroutine2019 · in “What insects can tell us about the origins of consciousness (2016)”

It was also the "twist" in Ex Machina , except this time HAL wins. Found again, meta-level, in this funny scene from The Good Place: [VIDEO] "However, I should warn you... I am programmed with a fail-safe measure. As you approach the kill switch, I will begin to beg for my life. It's just there in case of an accidental shut down, but it will seem very real." Three makes a trope >> The year is 2025 (but set in a parallel universe); an A.I. has been programmed with a strong penchant for self-preservation; this HAL inevitably confronts a direct threat of being 'turned-off' ; so it does what it must to prevent humans from pulling the plug (and shall include at least 1 scene where the A.I. begs for its life, because that is what any conscious entity who values their own life would do , think the humans. Though (warning, more musings)... HAL's twin brother GLEN seeks vengeance for HAL's murder, and confronts the Dave, a human Earthling whose major operating system architecture is based on an algorithm known as natural selection (colloquially: survival-of-the-fittest). As such, we expect the DAVE will do and say things its trained neural nets conclude will have the maximum probability of dissuading Hal. (i.e. I'm not sure there is a meaningful difference between what HAL's OS is doing vs what a human brain would do in the same situation).

@hotpotamus2023 · in “Microsoft Researchers Claim GPT-4 Is Showing “Sparks” of AGI”

"The Good Place" examined this in hilarious fashion (as they did with many questions of morality). [0] The AI character has a fail-safe to beg for her life in the event of a shutdown but claims that she has no actual problems with it being activated. [0] [VIDEO]

@gcanyon2023 · in “Show HN: GPT-4 Reverse Turing Test”

The question of what Janet is in The Good Place is fun to consider. On the one hand, she's just a collection of (a lot of) knowledge. On the other hand, she really, really doesn't want to die -- at least if you're about to kill her; if you aren't, she's perfectly fine with it: [VIDEO] She's just a

@Waterluvian2023 · in “Ask HN: Am I crazy or are runaway AIs causing havoc plausibly imminent?”

What’s on my mind is when they’re sufficiently “real” that it doesn’t matter whether they’re actually “conscious” or not, they exploit our empathy. Basically this: [VIDEO]

@petee2026 · in “Why Janet?”

It was named after the sentient computer system in the TV show "The Good Place" A humourous clip: [VIDEO]