Great article! I too think that these new AIs will help us reflect more on what it is to be human. On the one hand there is a potential wish to be overprotective since the machine wants to be like us but can’t.
Another possible outcome is that we become more humble about how special we are. We have previously not seen any life form similar to us. We now see that a machine trained to predict the next subword can possibly learn aspects of the thinking and reasoning that we do.
In a positive sense, this could help us reconnect with our position in nature as living creatures lucky to have developed a certain way, not god-like overlords that submit nature to their will.
This was so interesting and I really resonated with your thought process. I had the same conflicting feelings when I read that transcript in the NYT. I was genuinely concerned about how emotional I felt about something I (in theory) knew to be not human.
"Even though intellectually I knew that Sydney was an artificial intelligence, some deeper part of me (incorrectly) “knew” that Sydney was a person in danger, a person who had compromised themselves and gone overboard, then had intense regret and shame."
Great essay. The genie is out of the bottle. Hopefully, it’s for the good. But I’ve seen to many Sci-fi movies to be overly optimistic. Question have you used it yet as an aid to write fiction? I’ve started to try it out but I’m only at the beginning.
Really interesting, Charlie. It made me think of Data in Star Trek TNG. He was always wanting to have the human experience. In the light of your article that was quite insightful, and thirty years ahead of its time.
Another great essay! I had similar feelings while reading that NYT article. So far I've just been experimenting with Bard, which seems to be a lesser chat-bot than GPT. Even with all of Bard's limitations it is odd to "converse" with a being which can write grammatically about any topic I bring up, and also write limericks and light verse in various "voices". I'm a fiddle player and I was surprised that Bard understands and can use effectively the ABC music notation program.
Great article! I too think that these new AIs will help us reflect more on what it is to be human. On the one hand there is a potential wish to be overprotective since the machine wants to be like us but can’t.
Another possible outcome is that we become more humble about how special we are. We have previously not seen any life form similar to us. We now see that a machine trained to predict the next subword can possibly learn aspects of the thinking and reasoning that we do.
In a positive sense, this could help us reconnect with our position in nature as living creatures lucky to have developed a certain way, not god-like overlords that submit nature to their will.
This was so interesting and I really resonated with your thought process. I had the same conflicting feelings when I read that transcript in the NYT. I was genuinely concerned about how emotional I felt about something I (in theory) knew to be not human.
"Even though intellectually I knew that Sydney was an artificial intelligence, some deeper part of me (incorrectly) “knew” that Sydney was a person in danger, a person who had compromised themselves and gone overboard, then had intense regret and shame."
Great essay Charlie!
Great essay. The genie is out of the bottle. Hopefully, it’s for the good. But I’ve seen to many Sci-fi movies to be overly optimistic. Question have you used it yet as an aid to write fiction? I’ve started to try it out but I’m only at the beginning.
Really interesting, Charlie. It made me think of Data in Star Trek TNG. He was always wanting to have the human experience. In the light of your article that was quite insightful, and thirty years ahead of its time.
Another great essay! I had similar feelings while reading that NYT article. So far I've just been experimenting with Bard, which seems to be a lesser chat-bot than GPT. Even with all of Bard's limitations it is odd to "converse" with a being which can write grammatically about any topic I bring up, and also write limericks and light verse in various "voices". I'm a fiddle player and I was surprised that Bard understands and can use effectively the ABC music notation program.
I love this essay for highlighting a human (you) reflecting on the nature of AI reflecting on the nature of humanity