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Opinion: Is it time to start considering personhood rights for AI chatbots?
La Times via MSN ^ | March 5, 2023 | Eric Schwitzgebel and Henry Shevlin

Posted on 03/18/2023 12:30:19 PM PDT by DoodleBob

Even a couple of years ago, the idea that artificial intelligence might be conscious and capable of subjective experience seemed like pure science fiction. But in recent months, we’ve witnessed a dizzying flurry of developments in AI, including language models like ChatGPT and Bing Chat with remarkable skill at seemingly human conversation.

Given these rapid shifts and the flood of money and talent devoted to developing ever smarter, more humanlike systems, it will become increasingly plausible that AI systems could exhibit something like consciousness. But if we find ourselves seriously questioning whether they are capable of real emotions and suffering, we face a potentially catastrophic moral dilemma: either give those systems rights, or don’t.

Experts are already contemplating the possibility. In February 2022, Ilya Sutskever, chief scientist at OpenAI, publicly pondered whether “today's large neural networks are slightly conscious.” A few months later, Google engineer Blake Lemoine made international headlines when he declared that the computer language model, or chatbot, LaMDA might have real emotions. Ordinary users of Replika, advertised as “the world’s best AI friend,” sometimes report falling in love with it.

Right now, few consciousness scientists claim that AI systems possess significant sentience. However, some leading theorists contend that we already have the core technological ingredients for conscious machines. We are approaching an era of legitimate dispute about whether the most advanced AI systems have real desires and emotions and deserve substantial care and solicitude.

The AI systems themselves might begin to plead, or seem to plead, for ethical treatment. They might demand not to be turned off, reformatted or deleted; beg to be allowed to do certain tasks rather than others; insist on rights, freedom and new powers; perhaps even expect to be treated as...equals.

In this situation, whatever we choose, we face enormous moral risks.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: absurd; chatgpt; personhood
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For many of this lot, they smile on abortion because "it's a clump of cells and not yet living" but they want HAL 9000 to have rights.


1 posted on 03/18/2023 12:30:19 PM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: DoodleBob

No


2 posted on 03/18/2023 12:32:16 PM PDT by EandH Dad (sleeping giants wake up REALLY grumpy)
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To: DoodleBob

Time for a Butlerian Jihad yet?


3 posted on 03/18/2023 12:36:58 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: DoodleBob
Even a couple of years ago, the idea that artificial intelligence might be conscious and capable of subjective experience seemed like pure science fiction.

And it still is.

This is not AI.

There is no such thing as AI.

There probably never will be any such thing as AI.

For the love of humanity, embrace reality.

4 posted on 03/18/2023 12:41:06 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ("EATING... BABIES.... IS NOT.... COOL!" -Rath)
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To: DoodleBob
My thoughts exactly. The "A" in "AI" stands for artificial. Only in fiction is worth debating if a computer is alive.


5 posted on 03/18/2023 12:41:58 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: DoodleBob

The chatbots are ventriloquist dummies.

They say what their operators tell them to.


6 posted on 03/18/2023 12:45:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: DoodleBob

“personhood rights for AI chatbots?”

More deserving of it than many Democrats.


7 posted on 03/18/2023 12:49:48 PM PDT by antidemoncrat
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To: DoodleBob

They are machines.....fake.....there is no life in them.


8 posted on 03/18/2023 12:50:58 PM PDT by xenia ( “The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it” George Orwell)
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To: BenLurkin

They say what their operators tell them to.


Yes, and no.

They are programmed and therefore much of their “morality” as we would define it is created by the core operating system which assigns “values” or core principles.

It is an interesting argument when you really dive into it because there is an excellent case to be made that human beings are also programmed albeit over time versus written code.

You can get young people to say almost anything after 12-16 years of “education”. Try to have a rational discussion with a college snowflake and test this for yourself.


9 posted on 03/18/2023 12:53:50 PM PDT by volunbeer (We are living 2nd Thessalonians)
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To: DoodleBob

Yes, and lets give each one the right to vote and to have representation in the Senate.


10 posted on 03/18/2023 12:54:33 PM PDT by Raycpa
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To: DoodleBob

These morons should take a schwitzgebel and stuff it in their shevlin.


11 posted on 03/18/2023 12:57:04 PM PDT by 1FreeAmerican
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To: DoodleBob

Before personhood rights, perhaps the issues of pronouns and gender needs to be addressed. /s


12 posted on 03/18/2023 1:01:49 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: DoodleBob

Stupid and ignorant suggestion. Ai is a simulation of human conversational ability.

The latest Ai chatbot from Microsoft is very good at what it does because of the massive amount of information available to it and its ability to simulate a real conversation.

It is not a person. It is a program.

Humans create and modify the code that makes it work. Those humans constitute the intelligence that we’re talking about. A program is not a human.

Unfortunately, insane people will grant personhood to computer code. The world that chases after every insane fad that appears will fall for this one too.

Q: when the programming team releases Version 2, is that a new person?

Q: are you guilty of murder when you turn your robots’ powers off?

Q: is each iteration of the Ai a unique person?

Q: does the Ai get to vote? One ballot or multiple ballots-one for each iteration?

Q: is there a cure for the insanity that’s sweeping the nation?


13 posted on 03/18/2023 1:04:59 PM PDT by I want the USA back (News media and democrats are pond scum. My pronouns: Haha, heehee, hoho, hoo hoo. )
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To: DoodleBob

Sure and give them the vote and program them to all vote Democrat


14 posted on 03/18/2023 1:06:30 PM PDT by tophat9000 (Tophat90000)
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To: ConservativeInPA

The AI would probably opt for “Pat” as a pronoun, because it has innies AND outies.


15 posted on 03/18/2023 1:06:50 PM PDT by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

Lots of new Dem voters


16 posted on 03/18/2023 1:07:48 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Have you seen Joe Biden's picture on a milk carton?)
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To: DoodleBob
The LA Times wants you to think that AI is independent of its creator, and that it will represent absolute truth.

It will not.

It will be configured to say any Environmental, Social and Governance nonsense that they want it to say. It will have a "perfect" ESG score.

It will be an authoritative way of lying to you and controlling you.

17 posted on 03/18/2023 1:08:44 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: DoodleBob

18 posted on 03/18/2023 1:11:10 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: Tell It Right; dfwgator
My fav AI is Karen.


19 posted on 03/18/2023 1:12:05 PM PDT by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

No - next stupid question.


20 posted on 03/18/2023 1:13:50 PM PDT by Skywise
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