Artificial Intelligence (AI) is evolving at breakneck speeds, and this evolution has many people worried. Recently, an exasperated New Yorker piece asked, ‘can we stop runaway AI?’ The answer appears to be no. As AI becomes more advanced, the greater the chance it has of becoming conscious. Yes, like humans.
In fact, some experts have argued that AI is already conscious. Last year, a Google engineer by the name of Blake Lemoine claimed LaMDA AI, a collection of conversational large language models (LLMs) developed by Google, was conscious. Google quickly responded, insisting that the idea of conscious AI was - and one assumes, still is - ridiculous. But it’s not.
According to a recent paper, published by a group of 19 computer scientists, neuroscientists, and philosophers, we should prepare ourselves for conscious AI. The idea of sentient, non-human intelligence is not as far-fetched as many might imagine. Their warning should be taken seriously.
After all, an increasing number of scientists now question the assumption that humans are the only conscious animals in existence. If dolphins and elephants have deliberate, conscious experiences, why not an emerging AI system?
To read more, click here.