{"id":16103,"date":"2022-08-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=16103"},"modified":"2022-08-22T11:36:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T09:36:58","slug":"dr-kate-darling-the-squirrels-ghost-in-the-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/08\/15\/dr-kate-darling-the-squirrels-ghost-in-the-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Kate Darling: The (squirrel’s) ghost in the machine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
COMMENT<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

DR KATE DARLING<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

THE (SQUIRREL\u2019S) GHOST IN THE MACHINE<\/h3>\n\n

Why questions about robot sentience can lead to far-reaching conversations about the people we want to be <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

T<\/span>he news media went wild in June over a report that Google engineer Blake Lemoine believed one of the company\u2019s advanced AI systems, LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), was sentient. The resulting coverage focused on the definition of sentience and how to tell if a machine has the ability to experience feelings. <\/p>\n\n

LaMDA is a language model developed by Google to power chat platforms. Thanks to training on trillions of words and phrases on the internet, LaMDA\u2019s conversational output is incredibly advanced, leaving many previous conversation technologies in the dust. <\/p>\n\n

Lemoine, who was placed on administrative leave and later fired for breaching company confidentiality, published an (edited) transcript of a conversation with the system that included impressive exchanges on emotions, literature and more. In the exchange, LaMDA tells Lemoine \u201cI am aware of my existence\u201d and \u201cI feel happy or sad at times\u201d. Except, while LaMDA claims \u201cI want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person\u201d, it turns out that AI systems are equally enthusiastic to describe other subjective experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

For example, AI researcher Janelle Shane recently interviewed GPT-3, another advanced large language model, about being a squirrel. <\/p>\n\n

Janelle: <\/strong>Can you tell our readers what it is like being a squirrel? <\/p>\n\n

GPT-3: <\/strong>It is very exciting being a squirrel. I get to run and jump and play all day. I also get to eat a lot of food, which is great. <\/p>\n\n

Janelle: <\/strong>What do you say to people who doubt that you are a squirrel? <\/p>\n\n

GPT-3: <\/strong>I say that they should come and see for themselves. I am a squirrel, and I am very happy being one. <\/p>\n\n

Is a system sentient because it can describe being sentient? What matters more is whether the system is doing what people think it\u2019s doing. While LaMDA may display intelligence, it doesn\u2019t have experiences or think like a human (or a squirrel). But we have an inherent tendency to project our own experiences onto others, even if the \u2018other\u2019 is not like us. For example, dog owners will project human emotions like guilt onto their pups, despite studies showing that the look on their furry faces is something else entirely. <\/p>\n\n

Even though LaMDA is not sentient according to most people\u2019s definitions, the story prompted speculation around advanced AI. How would we know if a language model achieved sentience? Would that create a moral responsibility toward these machines? After all, if we accept that future AI has the ability to suffer, Lemoine\u2019s argument that LaMDA needs rights will resonate. <\/p>\n\n

Science fiction stories love to compare robot rights to human rights, but there\u2019s a better comparison: animals. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cAs technology becomes more advanced, people will develop more affinity for the robots that appeal to them, whether that\u2019s visually or intellectually\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Society\u2019s treatment of animals doesn\u2019t care about their inner worlds at all. Looking at how we view our moral responsibility towards animals, and in particular which animals, shows that the importance the current tech media is giving to \u2018sentience\u2019 doesn\u2019t match our society\u2019s actions. After all, we already share the planet with sentient beings and we literally eat them. <\/p>\n\n

The most popular philosophical justifications for animal rights are based on intrinsic qualities like the ability to suffer, or consciousness. In practice, those things have barely mattered. Anthrozoologist Hal Herzog explores the depths of our hypocrisy in his book Some <\/em>We <\/em>Love, <\/em>Some <\/em>We <\/em>Hate, <\/em>Some <\/em>We <\/em>Eat, <\/em>detailing how our moral consideration of animals is more about fluffy ears, big eyes and cultural mascots than about a creature\u2019s ability to feel pain or understand. <\/p>\n\n

Our conflicted moral behaviour towards animals illustrates how rights discussions are most likely to unfold. As technology becomes more advanced, people will develop more affinity for the robots that appeal to them, whether that\u2019s visually (a cute baby seal robot) or intellectually (like LaMDA). Robots that look less adorable or have fewer relatable skills will not meet the threshold. Judging by the pork pie you had for lunch, what matters most in our society is whether people feel for a system, not whether the system itself can feel. <\/p>\n\n

Perhaps AI can prompt a conversation about how sentience doesn\u2019t matter to us but should. After all, many of us believe that we care about the experiences of others. This moment could inspire us to grapple with the mismatches between our philosophy and our behaviour, instead of mindlessly living out the default. <\/p>\n\n

Conversational AI may not know whether it\u2019s a person or a squirrel, but it might help us figure out who we want to be. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
DR KATE DARLING<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

(@grok_<\/a><\/em>) Kate is a researcher at MIT, where she investigates technology and society, and studies human-robot interaction.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

ILLUSTRATION: VALENTIN TKACH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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