Connectionists: Sentient AI Survey Results

[Dietterich, Thomas]

My views:
1. I think we can build a conscious AI system if we define consciousness in terms of continuous self-awareness. Indeed, continuous self-monitoring is an important function of existing computer operating systems and data centers. We should build these functions into our systems to detect failures and prevent errors.

2. Regarding rights, there is no clear definition of an AI system the way there is an obvious definition of a human being or a dog. An AI system may not even have a definite location or body, for example, because it is code that is running simultaneously on data centers around the world or in a constellation of satellites in earth orbit. An AI system may be placed into a suspended state and then restarted (or restarted from a previous checkpoint). What would it mean, for example, for such systems to a have a right to bodily autonomy? Wouldn't it be ok to suspend them as long as they could be "revived" later? Even people go to sleep and thereby go through time periods when they lack continuous awareness.

I think an interesting set of ideas come from Strawson's famous essay on Freedom and Resentment. Perhaps, as AI systems continue to develop, we will come to treat some of them as moral agents responsible for their actions.  We will resent them when they act with bad intentions and feel warmly toward them when they act with our best interests in mind. Such socially-competent agents that act with deep understanding of human society might deserve rights because of the harms to society that would arise if they were not given those protections. In short, the decision to grant rights (and which rights) will depend on society's evolving attitude toward these systems and their behavior.

--Tom Dietterich

Thomas G. Dietterich, Distinguished Professor Voice: 541-737-5559
School of Electrical Engineering              FAX: 541-737-1300
  and Computer Science                        URL: eecs.oregonstate.edu/~tgd
US Mail: 1148 Kelley Engineering Center
Office: 2067 Kelley Engineering Center
Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR 97331-5501

-----Original Message-----
From: Connectionists <connectionists-bounces at mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu> On Behalf Of Jeffrey L Krichmar
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2023 14:30
To: connectionists at cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Connectionists: Sentient AI Survey Results

[This email originated from outside of OSU. Use caution with links and attachments.]

Dear Connectionists,

I am teaching an undergraduate course on "AI in Culture and Media". Most students are in our Cognitive Sciences and Psychology programs. Last week we had a discussion and debate on AI, Consciousness, and Machine Ethics.  After the debate, around 70 students filled out a survey responding to these questions.

Q1: Do you think it is possible to build conscious or sentient AI?     65% answered yes.
Q2: Do you think we should build conscious or sentient AI?            22% answered yes
Q3: Do you think AI should have rights?                                          54% answered yes

I thought many of you would find this interesting.  And my students would like to hear your views on the topic.

Best regards,

Jeff Krichmar
Department of Cognitive Sciences
2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
jkrichma at uci.edu
http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/716394/neurorobotics-by-tiffany-j-hwu-and-jeffrey-l-krichmar/