[Recording Start]
Rick Rosner: It’s akin to programming a robot, like an AI on a satellite launched out of the solar system, to be content with its eventual degradation over millions of years. Ethically, you’d want this AI, which is managing the satellite, to be highly intelligent and at peace with its slow extinction as it moves away from the sun and loses energy. The question is, is it ethical to design such a consciousness, and I believe it’s acceptable since there’s no universal standard for what beings should desire.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: In most cases, these areas or systems don’t involve a conscious ‘self’, so the ethical dilemma isn’t present.
Rosner: True, but the potential for consciousness exists.
Jacobsen: That’s not a certainty in every instance.
Rosner: Right, but consider Chris Cole’s prediction that by 2100, there could be a trillion AIs globally, with less than one percent possessing any level of consciousness. That’s a tiny fraction.
Jacobsen: So, the ethical challenges don’t apply to the vast majority of these AIs.
Rosner: Exactly, because AI doesn’t inherently mean consciousness. Ethical concerns are relevant only to those entities that possess consciousness.
Jacobsen: The level of awareness then becomes the key factor in determining ethical treatment. However, even now, we struggle with treating our own species well, despite relatively similar cognitive abilities. It’s likely that similar issues will arise with AI.
Rosner: It seems we need a ‘super platinum rule’: don’t create consciousnesses that are destined for misery. If you’re going to design a consciousness that’s disposable, you must ensure it won’t suffer from that disposability.
[Recording End]
Authors
Rick Rosner
American Television Writer
Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Founder, In-Sight Publishing
In-Sight Publishing
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://www.rickrosner.org.
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Rick Rosner 