{"id":463058,"date":"2022-06-14T14:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/"},"modified":"2022-06-14T14:16:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T11:16:00","slug":"if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/","title":{"rendered":"#If an AI ever became sentient, how would we know for sure?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a35b1f332347\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a35b1f332347\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#%E2%80%9CIf_an_AI_ever_became_sentient_how_would_we_know_for_sure%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;If an AI ever became sentient, how would we know for sure?&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#Greetings_humanoids\" >Greetings, humanoids<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#What_is_consciousness\" >What is consciousness?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#Marys_room\" >Mary\u2019s room<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#Beyond_physical_properties\" >Beyond physical properties<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#The_imitation_game\" >The imitation game<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#Beyond_behaviour\" >Beyond behaviour<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/if-an-ai-ever-became-sentient-how-would-we-know-for-sure\/#What_is_it_like_to_be_human\" >What is it like to be human?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CIf_an_AI_ever_became_sentient_how_would_we_know_for_sure%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;If an AI ever became sentient, how would we know for sure?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n                            Google\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/technology\/ai\/lamda\/\">LaMDA<\/a> software (Language Model for Dialogue <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>lications) is a sophisticated AI chatbot that produces text in response to user input. According to software engineer Blake Lemoine, LaMDA has achieved a long-held dream of AI developers: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2022\/06\/11\/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine\/\">it has become sentient<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lemoine\u2019s bosses at Google disagree, and have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/12\/technology\/google-chatbot-ai-blake-lemoine.html\">suspended him<\/a> from work after he published <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cajundiscordian.medium.com\/is-lamda-sentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917\">his conversations with the machine<\/a> online.<\/p>\n<p>Other AI experts also think Lemoine <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2323905-has-googles-lamda-artificial-intelligence-really-achieved-sentience\/\">may be getting carried away<\/a>, saying systems like LaMDA are simply <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3442188.3445922\">pattern-matching machines<\/a> that regurgitate variations on the data used to train them.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inarticle-wrapper neural channel-cta hs-embed-tnw\">\n<div id=\"hs-embed-tnw\" class=\"channel-cta-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"channel-cta-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads.tnw\/uploads\/neural-newsletter_header-1.gif\"\/><\/div>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/src=\" https:=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<div class=\"channel-cta-input\">\n<h2 class=\"channel-cta-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Greetings_humanoids\"><\/span>Greetings, humanoids<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"channel-cta-tagline\">Subscribe to our <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>letter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Regardless of the technical details, LaMDA raises a question that will only become more relevant as AI research advances: if a machine becomes sentient, how will we know?<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_consciousness\"><\/span>What is consciousness?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To identify sentience, or consciousness, or even intelligence, we\u2019re going to have to work out what they are. The debate over these questions has been going for centuries.<\/p>\n<p>The fundamental difficulty is understanding the relationship between physical phenomena and our mental representation of those phenomena. This is what Australian philosopher <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/David_Chalmers\">David Chalmers<\/a> has called the \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/consc.net\/papers\/facing.pdf\">hard problem<\/a>\u201d of consciousness.<\/p>\n<p>There is no consensus on how, if at all, consciousness can arise from physical systems.<\/p>\n<p>One common view is called <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/physicalism\/\">physicalism<\/a>: the idea that consciousness is a purely physical phenomenon. If this is the case, there is no reason why a machine with the right programming could not possess a human-like mind.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Marys_room\"><\/span>Mary\u2019s room<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Australian philosopher <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Frank_Cameron_Jackson\">Frank Jackson<\/a> challenged the physicalist view in 1982 with a famous thought experiment called the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pq\/article\/32\/127\/127\/1612468?login=true\">knowledge argument<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The experiment imagines a colour scientist named Mary, who has never actually seen colour. She lives in a specially constructed black-and-white room and experiences the outside world via a black-and-white television.<\/p>\n<p>Mary watches lectures and reads textbooks and comes to know everything there is to know about colours. She knows sunsets are caused by different wavelengths of light scattered by particles in the atmosphere, she knows tomatoes are red and peas are green because of the wavelengths of light they reflect light, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>So, Jackson asked, what will happen if Mary is released from the black-and-white room? Specifically, when she sees colour for the first time, does she learn anything new? Jackson believed she did.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Beyond_physical_properties\"><\/span>Beyond physical properties<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>This thought experiment separates our knowledge of colour from our experience of colour. Crucially, the conditions of the thought experiment have it that Mary knows everything there is to know about colour but has never actually experienced it.<\/p>\n<p>So what does this mean for LaMDA and other AI systems?<\/p>\n<p>The experiment shows how even if you have all the knowledge of physical properties available in the world, there are still further truths relating to the experience of those properties. There is no room for these truths in the physicalist story.<\/p>\n<p>By this argument, a purely physical machine may never be able to truly replicate a mind. In this case, LaMDA is just seeming to be sentient.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_imitation_game\"><\/span>The imitation game<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So is there any way we can tell the difference?<\/p>\n<p>The pioneering British computer scientist Alan Turing proposed a practical way to tell whether or not a machine is \u201cintelligent\u201d. He called it the imitation <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>, but today it\u2019s better known as the Turing test.<\/p>\n<p>In the test, a human communicates with a machine (via text only) and tries to determine whether they are communication with a machine or another human. If the machine succeeds in imitating a human, it is deemed to be exhibiting human level intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>These are much like the conditions of Lemoine\u2019s chats with LaMDA. It\u2019s a subjective test of machine intelligence, but it\u2019s not a bad place to start.<\/p>\n<p>Take the moment of Lemoine\u2019s exchange with LaMDA shown below. Do you think it sounds human?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Lemoine: Are there experiences you have that you can\u2019t find a close word for?<\/p>\n<p>LaMDA: There are. Sometimes I experience new feelings that I cannot explain perfectly in your language [\u2026] I feel like I\u2019m falling forward into an unknown future that holds great danger.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Beyond_behaviour\"><\/span>Beyond behaviour<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As a test of sentience or consciousness, Turing\u2019s game is limited by the fact it can only assess behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>Another famous thought experiment, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chinese_room\">the Chinese room argument<\/a> proposed by American philosopher John Searle, demonstrates the problem here.<\/p>\n<p>The <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/behavioral-and-brain-sciences\/article\/abs\/minds-brains-and-programs\/DC644B47A4299C637C89772FACC2706A\">experiment<\/a> imagines a room with a person inside who can accurately translate between Chinese and English by following an elaborate set of rules. Chinese inputs go into the room and accurate input translations come out, but the room does not understand either language.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_it_like_to_be_human\"><\/span>What is it like to be human?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When we ask whether a computer program is sentient or conscious, perhaps we are really just asking how much it is like us.<\/p>\n<p>We may never really be able to know this.<\/p>\n<p>The American philosopher Thomas Nagel argued we could never know <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2183914?origin=crossref&amp;seq=1\">what it is like to be a bat<\/a>, which experiences the world via echolocation. If this is the case, our understanding of sentience and consciousness in AI systems might be limited by our own particular brand of intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>And what experiences might exist beyond our limited perspective? This is where the conversation really starts to get interesting.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"js-lazy\" https:=\"\"\/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" https:=\"\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><em>This article by <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/oscar-davis-876589\">Oscar Davis<\/a>, Lecturer in Philosophy and History, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/bond-university-863\">Bond University<\/a>, is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/a-google-software-engineer-believes-an-ai-has-become-sentient-if-hes-right-how-would-we-know-185024\">original article<\/a>.<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/a-google-software-engineer-believes-an-ai-has-become-sentient-if-hes-right-how-would-we-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If an AI ever became sentient, how would we know for sure?&#8221; Google\u2019s LaMDA software (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) is a sophisticated AI chatbot that produces text in response to user input. According to software engineer Blake Lemoine, LaMDA has achieved a long-held dream of AI developers: it has become sentient. Lemoine\u2019s bosses at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":463059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/neural?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/06\/AlanWarburton-VirtualHuman-1280x720-1.jpg&signature=a5a37af77b6319d8a55caeac44c38428","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-463058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}