Should we start taking the welfare of AI seriously?

Should we start taking the welfare of AI seriously?

One of my most deeply held values as a tech columnist is humanism. I believe in humans, and I think that technology should help people, rather than disempower or replace them. I care about aligning artificial intelligence — that is, making sure that AI systems act in accordance with human values — because I think […]

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AI does not have thoughts, no matter what you think

AI does not have thoughts, no matter what you think

As the sun set over Maury Island, just south of Seattle, Ben Goertzel and his jazz-fusion band had one of those moments that all bands hope for — keyboard, guitar, saxophone and lead singer coming together as if they were one. Goertzel was on keys. The band’s friends and family listened from a patio overlooking […]

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Biggest Artificial Intelligence controversies: Racism, sexism and ‘becoming sentient’

Biggest Artificial Intelligence controversies: Racism, sexism and ‘becoming sentient’

Google’s LaMDA artificial intelligence (AI) model has been in the news because of an engineer in the company who believes that the program has become sentient. But while that claim was rubbished by the company pretty quickly, this is not the first time that an artificial intelligence program has attracted controversy; far from it in […]

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