A Google software engineer believes an AI has become sentient. If he’s right, how would we know?
Has google created a sentient being?
This week we heard about a google software engineer who claims the company has achieved an AI chatbot with feelings and is able to express them in conversation.
Google has dismissed these claims and suspended the engineer – in what seems like a plot for a Hollywood cyberpunk blockbuster.
Despite this the idea that an artificially intelligent robot machine created by one of the largest companies in the world has feelings is tantalising…
But is this even a thing? Can AI have feelings? What even is AI? What is consciousness and should we be worried about this? And if an AI chat bot has become sentient, how would we even know?
To chat about this I’m joined by Dr Oscar Davis – Lecturer in Philosophy and History, Bond University – who has written an excellent article on this subject in the Conversation.