Astro Boy: Will Artificial Intelligence Soon Takeover the World?

Artificial intelligence is making advancements every day. Human-like robots are seen on social media performing various activities that humans do. Technology has and is making a huge impact on today's society, and this is what Tezuka Osamu highlights in his manga/anime Astro Boy. 

The image above shows scientists in Japan producing a huge amount of robots that look exactly like human beings (Osamu, p.14-15). It also explains that the robots were gaining more and more human qualities on a daily basis. This idea of normalizing the use of robots is a transition to Astro Boy. 

In episode one of Astro Boy, a father creates a robot named Astro Boy that looks like his deceased son. The father teaches him everything that he needs to know, but he later realizes that Astro Boy would never be able to replace his son, so he gives him away. Astro Boy is a selfless robot that has powers that no human can possess. The father creates the robot in order to cope with the sudden death of his son. This conveys how humans can be capable of anything in order to replace someone or something.

As the episode progresses, Astro Boy and other robots express multiple emotions that only humans have, and they use their powers to help others. Laws were created stating that robots now had rights and were free. This portrays how there can be a possibility of robots having human emotions and can now be free to do whatever they want. 

Astro Boy is a symbol of what the future awaits if humans keep improving artificial intelligence. Knowing that robots can behave exactly like humans and do things that no human can do is a frightening idea to think about if robots suddenly try to control society. This manga/anime can soon turn into reality, but will it be for the better?