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My source for this post is a Japanese anime called “The Ancient Magus’ Bride”.  It is interesting because it is set in England and is a Japanese take on English folklore.  The setting is beautiful and this is a magical world peopled by creatures, some cute and some menacing. 

The Magus is Elias, an imposing figure in traditional academic garb but in his natural form his head is the skull of some animal and so shows no emotion.  His Bride (he doesn’t really understand marriage) is Chise who is Japanese and the hero of the story.  Chise has latent magical powers and can see these otherworldly creatures.  Elias is training her to be a Mage and she is training him to be human.

Episode 14 of series one features 2 children.  Stella is the older sister of Ethan.  She tells Ethan, in the thick of an argument in the snow that she wishes he’d disappear.  And he does.  He remains only in her memory, everyone else forgets he has ever existed.  Stella meets Chise by accident and, although Chise at this point in the story is forbidden to use magic for her own safety, she contracts to help Stella find Ethan.  (Stella promises to make sweets in return, so nothing too weird!)

Elias tags along and they track down the creature responsible for Ethan’s disappearance.  Ashen Eye is an ancient fairy (probably).  We have seen him before and he is impossible to read.  He reckons absconding with Ethan is fair enough, after all, Stella rejected him.  He sends Ethan to an unknown place and then does the same to Elias (this is worrying because Elias is immensely powerful but not as powerful as Ashen Eye).

Chise and Stella have until sunset (on this short winter’s day) to find them.  

I won’t go into detail about what happens.  Obviously, the story has a happy ending, the interest is in how they get there.  The relationship between Elias and Ethan is hilarious.

But I want to focus on Ashen Eye.  Is (s)he a good person or a bad person?  Certainly, an encounter with Ashen Eye is bad news.  This is an immensely powerful and ancient being.  The odd thing is that the siblings are reconciled and express their care for each other.  Stella learns that she needs to be careful what she says, even though she doesn’t really mean it.  But Elias and Chise also make progress in their relationship.  Ashen Eye senses something about their relationship and seems to give Elias a nudge.

But Ashen Eye’s methods are menacing.  S/he is all-powerful and cannot be stopped except within the rules of a game that s/he makes up.  Is Ashen Eye helping them or just creating trouble for his/her own entertainment?

Ashen Eye is opaque in terms of motivation and indeed dress.  S/he is clothed to the extent we see nothing but eyes, 3 of them.  We cannot tell what s/he is or what s/he wants. 

It struck me that Ashen Eye is an example of the issues we might face as AI grows more intelligent.  How can we begin to communicate meaningfully with a being when we can’t imagine what it experiences?  Imagine, if you can, an AI with self-awareness, making decisions in a billionth of a second and then having to wait for us to catch up.  It would be ancient within a minute.  It would know a billion ways to make us dance for its entertainment.

This is the twentieth in a series of posts about AI and Folklore.  I define Folklore as inclusive of religious stories and some from modern popular culture.  Minerva assists in all the posts, sometimes without attribution! 

The first post in the series is Life with Minerva.  The last post was Away with the Social Workers and the next is Three Laws.  If you press the button marked "Follow", you'll receive notice of new posts.

As always, please comment.  As well as your insights into AI and Folklore, I'd appreciate suggestions of stories I might cover.  These could be from folktales, myths, religious stories as well as general literature. 

Minerva was in her element this week depicting the kind of forest path it's probably a good idea to avoid.  She tells me it's the type of place you go to find owls!  Perhaps this is the kind of place that echoes with memories from many thousands of years?