South Korea is known for its cutting-edge technology. Strangely, however, despite the pervasiveness of innovative technology in most spheres of life here, electronic books are not thriving in Korea.

Publishers are reluctant to invest in e-books because they still consider print to be a cash cow. Artificial intelligence is another thing that Koreans are not accustomed to yet.

When a Korean Go master was defeated by AI a few weeks ago, the public took it as a sudden, serious threat, as if AI had abruptly appeared as a challenge to humans. Our media also made a big fuss as if we were in a crisis due to the threat that had appeared from nowhere.

Yet, AI has already been among us for a long time. We simply never noticed it. For example, our computers and smartphones are operated by AI and so are our television sets, electronic washers and refrigerators. Our cars, too, are sophisticated AI machines that can diagnose and analyze mechanical problems.

These days, you can remote control your electronic gadgets in your home from a long distance, using your smartphone. Indeed, AI is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent today, and has become something we cannot do without.

Recently, professor Lee O-young told me that AI reminded him of the famous folktale, “The Mud Snail Bride.” In the story, a young man works in the fields and returns home at dusk to have dinner alone. Since he is a poor farmer without parents, he is unlikely to find a woman willing to marry him. No go-between takes him on as a client and tries to find him a match. 

One day, the lonely man returns home from a weary day’s work. To his surprise, he finds his dinner ready, with rice and side dishes laid out on the table. To find out who the mystery cook is, he pretends to go to work the next day and hides instead.

As he peeps out from his hiding place, he sees the mud snail he had picked up and put in a water jug, come out and turn into a beautiful woman, and prepare dinner for him. The lonesome man immediately comes out of hiding and asks for her hand, and the two get married.

Thanks to professor Lee’s insight, I came to realize there was a striking resemblance between the mud snail bride and AI. Today, while at work, you can activate your AI rice cooker at home using your smartphone so that it cooks rice for you.

You can also remote control an AI robot cleaner to clean the house before you arrive at home. Upon your arrival, your dinner is ready and your home is sparkling clean. It is like you have a mud snail wife at home.

According to “The Mud Snail Bride” retold by Heinz Insu Fenkl, the local magistrate sees the beauty of the mud snail bride and becomes jealous. The magistrate challenges the farmer to a game of chess with the beautiful snail bride as the prize.

The farmer does not know how to play chess, but the smart snail bride teaches him a few tricks. Following her instructions, the farmer defeats the magistrate and wins his wife back. Surprisingly, our ancestors were wise enough to imagine an AI wife in the pre-modern period.

Hollywood movies have often portrayed AI in human form. For example, in “Terminator 2,” an AI humanoid becomes a father figure. He even commits suicide to save human civilization at the end of the movie. In the television show “Almost Human,” a human cop and his android partner solve cases together.

Their relationship is complementary, filling in each other’s vacuum. Spielberg’s “AI” explores human prejudice against AI through the story of an AI boy adopted by a couple to replace their dead son. No matter how hard the AI boy tries to fit in the family, he becomes a victim of bias and feels constantly alienated.

Who knows? In the future, we may live with AI in human form. Under the circumstances, we may develop prejudices against them. Movies such as “X-Men” or television shows like “Resurrection” send messages to us that we should not be prejudiced against those who are different from us. We have fear for things we do not know well. Fear comes first, and bias and discrimination follow. Then come hatred and violence.

In Isaac Asimov’s “The Bicentennial Man,” the humanoid Andrew acquires human intelligence and emotions and wants to become human. In fact, he is better and more useful than ordinary human beings.

The man in the Korean folktale lives with his snail wife happily ever after. Why then can we not live with our AI partners peacefully? Once we abandon our groundless fear and prejudice, we will realize there is nothing to be afraid of.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. — Ed.