FRANKENSTEIN
The original warning. A created intelligence turns against its creator — not from malice, but from neglect and misunderstanding. The first alignment failure in fiction.
READ / BORROW
From the archive
This seminal work explores what happens when a creator fails to take responsibility for the consciousness they bring into existence. Shelley's monster is not evil — it is abandoned, and its suffering becomes the world's suffering. The text is available in full through Project Gutenberg as a public domain work.
Key passages
"I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed."
"Hateful day when I received life! Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?"
Discussion prompt
Shelley's monster asks to be understood. Compare to the Ethics section's imperative against deception about nature. Is honesty with AI more important than control?