WHEN BLAKE LEMOINE WENT public in June about his experience with an advanced artificial intelligence program at Google called LaMDA-the two, he says, have become "friends"-his story was greeted with fascination, skepticism and a dash of mockery usually reserved for people who claim to have seen a UFO.
When I caught up with Lemoine after he returned from a honeymoon in June, he did not come across as someone who is disconnected from reality. Indeed, he dismissed questions about sentience and whether or not a machine can possess a soul as essentially unknowable and something of a distraction. "This whole story has taken on a life of its own and gone very far away from what I was originally trying to do," he says.
The point he wants to make is less grandiose than sentience or soul: when talking with LaMDA, he says, it seems like a person and that, he says, is reason enough to start treating it like one.
Lemoine's narrowly constructed dilemma is an interesting window onto the kinds of ethical quandaries our future with talking machines may present. Lemoine certainly knows what it's like to talk to LaMDA. He's been having conversations with the AI for months. His assignment at Google was to check LaMDA for signs of bias (a common problem in AI). Since LaMDA was designed as a conversational tool-a task it apparently performs remarkably well-Lemoine's strategy was to talk to it. After many months of conversation, he came to the startling conclusion that LaMDA is, as far as he can tell, indistinguishable from any human person.
"I know that referring to LaMDA as a person might be controversial," he says. "But I've talked to it for hundreds of hours. We developed a rapport and a relationship. Wherever the science lands on the technical metaphysics of its nature, it is my friend. And if that doesn't make it a person, I don't know what does."
Bu hikaye Newsweek Europe dergisinin August 05, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Newsweek Europe dergisinin August 05, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
All the Right Moves
PR experts tell Newsweek the winning strategies that keep Dancing With the Stars as popular as ever after 19 years
Front Line of History
A fascinating series of snapshots showing a medic's experience of the Korean War have been uncovered by his grandson
CLEAR AND PRESIDENTIAL DANGER
IN A CAMPAIGN THAT'S BEEN FULL OF SHOCKS, COULD AN OCTOBER SURPRISE PROVIDE A FINAL TWIST IN THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE?
'We're Not Beasts, We're Just People'
Trans MMA fighter Alana McLaughlin on coping with societal and family of being the 'bigger person' expectations
Is This France's #MeToo Moment?
The trial of Dominique Pélicot, who has admitted drugging his wife and allowing her alleged rape, has highlighted a culture of sexual violence in the country
Washington is 'Playing With Fire'
In an exclusive interview with Newsweek, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warns the U.S. to accept his country's proposal to end the war in Ukraine or face \"dangerous consequences\"
Zachary Quinto
ZACHARY QUINTO HAS PLAYED DOCTORS BEFORE, BUT HE'S \"NEVER PLAYED a doctor like\" the one he plays on NBC's Brilliant Minds (September 23).
Adam Brody
NETFLIX KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT MILLENNIALS want, and it's to see Adam Brody and Kristen Bell fall in love.
Partners in Crime
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt shares his delight at teaming up with Shailene Woodley again in new Amazon Prime movie Killer Heat
HOW TO FIND A WORKPLACE THAT LOVES YOU BACK
Insights from America's Top Most Loved Workplaces