Science fiction as a privileged means of thinking about artificial intelligence.

In an article published in Le Monde on September 3, 2022, Élisa Thévenet, editor-in-chief of Futur magazine, recalls the role that science fiction literature has played in the widespread fascination we observe today with artificial intelligences potentially endowed with consciousness. This is, in a certain way, what the LaMDA affair brought back into focus, following the publication by a Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, of exchanges he claimed to have had with the conversational agent LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). While he had been tasked with assessing the system’s susceptibility to hate speech and discriminatory content, the chatbot’s responses led the engineer—since dismissed—to believe that it possessed consciousness. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the “ELIZA effect,” named after the chatbot developed by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966 to simulate a psychotherapist, and used to describe the tendency to unconsciously attribute human-like qualities to computer behavior.

Weizenbaum himself had warned against this anthropomorphic temptation and the risk of forgetting that an algorithm has no understanding of the symbols it manipulates. This intuition was later theorized by the American philosopher John Searle through the thought experiment known as the “Chinese Room,” presented in his now-classic 1980 paper Minds, Brains and Programs.

If there is a paradigmatic narrative that has played a central role in our fascination with artificial creatures endowed with cognitive capacities similar to those of human beings and fashioned in their image, it is undoubtedly this founding myth of the industrial age, written by the British novelist Mary Shelley (1797–1851) when she was not yet twenty: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). Drawing on the Hebrew myth of the Golem and the figure of Prometheus from Greek mythology, Shelley’s novel—and the scientist Frankenstein it portrays—has since crystallized, in the words of the previously cited author, “the existential anxiety of an omnipresent technology.” In other words, science fiction is not merely a form of entertainment; it can also function as an ethical laboratory for artificial intelligence, as suggested by Thierry Ménissier, head of the Ethics & AI Chair at the Institute of Philosophy in Grenoble: “Science fiction courses should be made compulsory. Science is born in the imagination.”

There is thus nothing more suitable than science fiction literature for grasping the world to come and anticipating the ethical dilemmas we may face, provided we do not overlook those to which we are already exposed today, as Andréane Sabourin Laflamme, professor of philosophy and AI ethics at Collège André-Laurendeau in Montreal (Canada), and co-author of a competency framework for AI ethics education, reminds us.

The double opposition to the fantastic and to fantasy. — Science fiction is a literary and artistic genre that occupies a central place in the contemporary imagination. When one seeks to define it, it is most often contrasted with both the fantastic and fantasy. Unlike the fantastic, which is characterized by the intrusion of supernatural and irrational elements into a realistic setting—such as Balzac’s La Peau de chagrin (1831) or Maupassant’s Le Horla (1886)—or fantasy, which constructs entirely imaginary worlds governed by magical and supernatural laws—as in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) or J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter (1997)—science fiction always retains a form of rational coherence. While it also creates imaginary worlds, it grounds them in scientific and technical knowledge or hypotheses that remain plausible or conceivable. It is therefore not merely a form of entertainment, but a critical and speculative instrument that interrogates humanity and its future in a world increasingly shaped by scientific and technological developments.

In this sense, the principle of projection can be regarded as a fundamental generative principle of science fiction narratives, whether they take the form of novels, short stories, comics, or, in their most popular contemporary form, films. In other words, science fiction starts from the known world—from the state of scientific knowledge and from the technical, social, and cultural trends of a given period—in order to imagine what our world might become. It thus constitutes a privileged means of exploring and reflecting, through imagination and on the basis of plausible scenarios, on the economic, social, political, and environmental consequences of scientific and technological developments. While it does not claim to predict the future with the precision of a futurist, it nevertheless proposes “possible future worlds” that shed light, by contrast, on our present. Thus, Mary Shelley, drawing on early developments in electricity and the scientific discoveries of her time, imagines in Frankenstein (1818) what might happen if human beings were to create a conscious entity that escapes their control. Similarly, George Orwell, in 1984 (published in 1949), projects the fears associated with the totalitarian regimes he witnessed, imagining a dystopian future in which citizens are permanently surveilled, historical truth constantly manipulated, and thought rigorously controlled.

The main characteristics of science fiction. — The elements outlined above clearly indicate that science fiction is not limited to the natural sciences: it may draw on biology, physics, or astronomy, but also on the social sciences, for instance by depicting political dystopias or societies transformed by new technologies. It is therefore possible to identify several fundamental characteristics:

• The importance attributed to science and technology: The first defining feature of science fiction is the central role of science and technology. Narratives are structured around a scientific invention (space travel, artificial intelligence, cloning, genetic manipulation) or a technological innovation (virtual reality, cybernetics, new forms of weaponry), which serves as the narrative and thematic driving force. It is perhaps no coincidence that science fiction developed most significantly alongside the first industrial revolution.

• The principle of extrapolation: The second characteristic is extrapolation. Science fiction begins with existing knowledge or a hypothesis and explores its consequences. Thus, Orwell’s 1984 extrapolates the totalitarian logics of his time to imagine a society of total surveillance, while Gattaca anticipates the excesses of a society structured by genetic selection.

• The invention of other worlds: A third characteristic lies in the exploration of alternative worlds. Science fiction unfolds in spaces that transcend the familiar: foreign planets, parallel universes, virtual realities. This spatial or temporal otherness allows for a critical reflection on our own world.

• A philosophical dimension: A fourth essential characteristic is its philosophical and critical dimension. Science fiction raises fundamental questions about the human condition: what are identity, freedom, or consciousness? What limits should be placed on technological progress? How can innovation be prevented from becoming an instrument of domination? It thus functions as a mirror of the fears and hopes of a given era.

An artistic and aesthetic ambition: Finally, science fiction is characterized by its aesthetic hybridity. It may borrow from detective fiction, the western, tragedy, or epic narrative, while incorporating often spectacular visual elements. In cinema, it has become a major genre, capable of combining intellectual reflection with popular entertainment.

Science fiction can therefore be defined as a genre of rational imagination that draws on scientific and technical knowledge to imagine possible worlds. Its defining features lie in its reliance on science, its use of extrapolation, its exploration of alternative worlds, its philosophical and critical dimension, and its aesthetic hybridity. Far more than a simple genre of anticipation, it is a tool for reflecting on the future of humanity and on the choices our societies must make in the face of scientific progress. It thus serves both as a mirror of present anxieties and hopes and as a laboratory for utopias and dystopias.

Subgenres of science fiction. — Science fiction is not a homogeneous genre. It encompasses a wide variety of subgenres that reflect both the evolution of scientific and social concerns across different periods and cultures, and the creative diversity of authors. Some subgenres emphasize scientific rigor (hard SF), others focus on political imagination (utopia, dystopia), while others privilege aesthetic experimentation and hybridization (steampunk, science fantasy). Understanding these subgenres makes it possible to better grasp the diversity of science fiction and the ways in which it engages with history and culture.

• Anticipation: One of the oldest forms of science fiction, anticipation consists in projecting into the near future the consequences of current scientific, technological, or social developments. More than a distant imaginative exercise, it functions as a warning or a form of prospective reflection. Jules Verne’s works, for instance, anticipate submarines, space travel, and technological innovations close to the discoveries of his time. Similarly, Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World anticipate political and social developments based on observable tendencies: totalitarianism, surveillance, and propaganda in Orwell; genetic engineering, artificial happiness, and mass conditioning in Huxley.

• Cyberpunk: Emerging in the early 1980s, cyberpunk is closely associated with the rise of computing, digital technologies, networks, and hacker culture. It typically depicts dystopian worlds dominated by sprawling megacities and powerful corporations controlling economic, political, and technological power. William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) is often regarded as foundational. Cinematic examples include Blade Runner (1982), Akira (1988), Ghost in the Shell, and The Matrix (1999).

• Steampunk: Closely related to cyberpunk, with which it shares a spirit of rebellion and social critique, steampunk is a retrofuturistic subgenre that imagines worlds in which futuristic technologies coexist with elements inherited from the Industrial Revolution, such as steam-powered machinery. Emerging in literature in the 1980s, it combines “past” and “future” and draws inspiration from the works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. It is therefore primarily the technological context—mechanical on the one hand, electronic and digital on the other—that distinguishes steampunk from cyberpunk. Works such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870) by Jules Verne, or The Time Machine (1895) by H. G. Wells, are often regarded as emblematic.

• Dystopia: In contrast to utopia, which imagines an ideal society—such as Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) or Campanella’s The City of the Sun (1623)—dystopia depicts a future society characterized by oppression, surveillance, and the erosion of individual freedoms. It is also referred to as anti-utopia. George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World are the two archetypal examples of this subgenre. One may also cite Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953), Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), or the television series Black Mirror, created by Charlie Brooker.

• Alternate history (Uchronia): Alternate history is a subgenre based on the rewriting of history. It imagines worlds in which a historical event took a different course. Its point of departure is thus the question: “What would have happened if…?” Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle describes a world in which Nazi Germany won the Second World War. Similarly, in The Other Side of Me, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt imagines a scenario in which Adolf Hitler had been admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Alternate history thus provides a powerful tool for reflecting on historical contingencies and unrealized possibilities.

• Utopia: From Thomas More’s Utopia to Campanella’s The City of the Sun, utopia as a subgenre proposes models of social perfection and is often considered one of the precursors of science fiction. In modern science fiction, utopia allows for the exploration of humanity’s aspirations toward a better world, while also revealing the limitations of any supposedly perfect society. Films such as Gattaca (1997) illustrate how an apparently ideal society can generate new forms of inequality and exclusion.

• Speculative fiction: This broad term encompasses works belonging to science fiction, fantasy, the fantastic, horror, alternate history, and steampunk. Their common feature is the exploration of what could happen (utopia or dystopia), or what could have happened (alternate history), in alternative realities. These works are structured around a hypothesis—“What if…?”—and explore its possible consequences.

• Hard science fiction (hard SF): Hard science fiction is the branch of the genre that seeks to integrate scientific discoveries and theories with a high degree of rigor, respecting established laws of physics, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, or biology. This requires substantial scientific knowledge on the part of the author. Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series are among the most frequently cited examples.

• Soft science fiction (soft SF): In contrast to hard SF, soft science fiction focuses less on the natural sciences and more on the social sciences—psychology, sociology, and politics. It emphasizes characters, social structures, and human relationships transformed by technology. Ursula K. Le Guin’s works are particularly representative of this approach.

• Post-apocalyptic fiction: This subgenre depicts a world following a major catastrophe—nuclear, ecological, pandemic, or technological—that has destroyed civilization as we know it. It typically portrays survivors struggling either to rebuild society or simply to survive in a devastated environment. Works such as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend illustrate this perspective.

• Science fantasy: Science fantasy is a hybrid genre combining elements of science fiction (advanced technologies, space travel) with elements of fantasy (magic, mythological forces, supernatural entities). Star Wars is the most well-known example, blending futuristic technology with quasi-mystical concepts such as the Force.

• Sci-fi (popular science fiction): The term “sci-fi,” sometimes used pejoratively, refers to a more commercial form of science fiction centered on action, spectacle, and entertainment. Often associated with Hollywood blockbusters, it prioritizes accessibility, visual effects, and universal themes such as space exploration or encounters with extraterrestrial life.

• Space opera: Probably the most popular and emblematic subgenre of science fiction, space opera features epic adventures and conflicts in space, involving interstellar battles, galactic empires, and heroic quests. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and Frank Herbert’s Dune are major literary examples, while Star Wars brought the genre to a global audience.

• Superheroes: The superhero subgenre originated in American comic books in the late 1930s and later expanded into television and cinema. It focuses on characters endowed with extraordinary powers who use them to combat evil and protect society. Iconic figures include Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Iron Man.

The subgenres of science fiction reflect the diversity of its concerns and forms. From realistic anticipation to rigorous hard science fiction, from epic space opera to historical alternate worlds, from technological cyberpunk to political dystopia, each explores a particular aspect of the human condition and its relationship to the future. Far from being reducible to simple labels, these subgenres interact and combine, giving rise to hybrid works. In its richness and plurality, science fiction thus remains a critical and creative tool for thinking about the future, questioning the present, and continually reinventing the possible trajectories of humanity. It is precisely in this sense that it constitutes a privileged medium for exploring the major transformations that science and technology are likely to bring about in human societies.