god-4

An eight-panel SMBC comic. A stern bald dad with glasses stands in a doorway and shouts, "SON! ARE YOU IN THERE BUILDING GOD FROM NEURAL NETWORKS!?" A child cries "BUT DAAAAAD!" The dad, scowling, continues: "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT UNCONTROLLED SUPERINTELLIGENCE INCREASING EXISTENTIAL RISK FOR HUMANITY!" The curly-haired child in a red shirt protests, "BUT DAD! ME AND MY PALS ARE GOOD GUYS! IF WE DON'T MAKE GOD FIRST, SOME BAD GUY WILL MAKE GOD!" The dad replies flatly, "I DON'T SEE ANY FRIENDS HERE." The child, now looking guilty, holds something up and explains, "WE STARTED ARGUING SO THEY'RE MAKING THEIR OWN GOD." The dad asks, "WHAT ABOUT BEATING THE BAD GUYS?" The child answers, "FIRST I CRUSH FRIENDS" and then, in a dramatic black-silhouette panel where the child gestures up toward a tall looming figure, "THEN I INSTANTIATE EVERLASTING HARMONY." The joke parodies AI-race rhetoric (build a benevolent superintelligence before a bad actor does) by framing it as a kid's grandiose, slightly menacing plan. Votey: a curly-haired child says in a speech bubble, "THIS IS A PROGRAMMING SCREWDRIVER," with a tiny screwdriver drawn beside him.