"I have to admit, I struggle to grasp this intuition." That line fascinates me--because I struggle to grasp how anyone would not be disgusted by the idea that a human might try to interact with a machine the same way s/he would interact with another human. It seems to me a perfectly obvious and reasonable intuition that humans are distinct from machines. You don't seem to have raised the issue of sex bots, but they're an interesting case precisely because it's so easy to see how that's an abuse and misunderstanding of human sexuality. It's also clear in that case what's fundamentally different about machines and humans: among other things, the sex bot can't have babies. There are at least some human things that only humans can or should do with other humans. There may be a question of how many of those things there are, but there should not be any question that there are such things.
Thanks for your comment. This is such an interesting point! I wonder if your intuition about sex bots also extend to sex toys. If one if okay but the other isn't, then how do we draw that line?
Gay couples also can't have babies, and we think that a relationship between two people of the same sex is acceptable.
The trouble is that this political and moral deliberation doesn't just happen within human circles now. The AIs are ingesting these attitudes and discussions as part of their training data, with unknown effects that the AI companies themselves might not be able to fully control.
"I have to admit, I struggle to grasp this intuition." That line fascinates me--because I struggle to grasp how anyone would not be disgusted by the idea that a human might try to interact with a machine the same way s/he would interact with another human. It seems to me a perfectly obvious and reasonable intuition that humans are distinct from machines. You don't seem to have raised the issue of sex bots, but they're an interesting case precisely because it's so easy to see how that's an abuse and misunderstanding of human sexuality. It's also clear in that case what's fundamentally different about machines and humans: among other things, the sex bot can't have babies. There are at least some human things that only humans can or should do with other humans. There may be a question of how many of those things there are, but there should not be any question that there are such things.
Hello!
Thanks for your comment. This is such an interesting point! I wonder if your intuition about sex bots also extend to sex toys. If one if okay but the other isn't, then how do we draw that line?
Gay couples also can't have babies, and we think that a relationship between two people of the same sex is acceptable.
The trouble is that this political and moral deliberation doesn't just happen within human circles now. The AIs are ingesting these attitudes and discussions as part of their training data, with unknown effects that the AI companies themselves might not be able to fully control.
A well-written thoughtful article. You forced me to think a bit deeper, Victoria :-)