The myth of Pandora's Box is a story from Greek mythology. According to myth, Pandora was the first woman created by the gods, and received a box from Zeus as a gift for her wedding to Epimetheus. This box contained all the evils of the world: illness, envy, vice, crime, vanity, deception, old age. Zeus told Pandora not to open the box under any circumstances, but she was very curious and could not resist the temptation.

When he opened the box, all the evils escaped and spread throughout the world, causing much suffering to humans. Pandora was scared and closed the box, but only hope remained at the bottom, which was the only good that the gods had put in the box. This myth explains the origin of the world's evils and of hope, which is the last thing that is lost.

The myth of Pandora's Box is usually compared to situations in which a difficult or risky decision is made, which can have unforeseen, unwanted and even completely contrary effects to what was expected. It is also used to refer to a complex problem or a source of conflict, which worsens when trying to resolve it. Some examples of situations that could be related to the myth are:

• The invention of the atomic bomb, which represented a scientific advance, but also a threat to humanity.

• Human cloning, which raises ethical and legal dilemmas about the identity and rights of clones.

• The COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a health, economic and social crisis worldwide.

In the world of cinema, some films have dealt with the myth of Pandora's Box or have mentioned it in some way. For example, in the 2003 film “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”, United States Air Force Lieutenant General Robert Brewster oversees the development of Skynet for Cyber Research Systems (CRS). Skynet is the artificial intelligence that leads the machine army in that movie saga. When a virus infection takes away his control over the army's supercomputers, Brewster activates it under pressure, an action that returns Skynet to consciousness and begins the attack on humans. Before dying, he laments: “I have opened Pandora's Box”.

Both the myth and this scene from the famous saga find a certain parallel today. It is clear that we must separate fiction from reality, although on some occasions the latter ends up surpassing it. It is also clear that what has been created to date is far from the powerful and evil artifices that we usually see on the big screen.

It is time for many advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence, some surrounded by mystery and, above all, a lot of speculation. This is not attributable to a campaign of intrigue; rather it is related to the secrecy associated with this type of classified projects. There is, on the other hand, an insatiable desire to achieve great and rapid advances, achieve the scoop and get ahead of the competition.

The motivations and interests of those who run the companies that currently concentrate their efforts in the field of Artificial Intelligence are unfathomable. Beyond the existing statements of principles on websites and white papers, we only wait for the good faith of public statements, without knowing what happens further downstream. Therefore, it is pertinent to find ways to ensure that products are safe for everyone before they go into production. In this way, we will avoid spreading new evils to the world and depend only on what always remains in the background: hope.