Should we put "functional" in front of every other word to talk about AI? They have functional emotions, but they don't feel. They have functional goals, but not internally derived motives. They can be functionally rogue, but have no innate need to be free. Talking about AI that way seems cumbersome and not necessarily elucidating.
They do not have emotions, goals, or motivations, "functional" or otherwise. They are statistical models that appear as a magic trick to people who aren't familiar with the math.
If something behaves as if it has a goal, that's a functional goal. When I say this chess engine is "trying to take my queen," I'm basically correct, insofar as this is a useful way to understand my computerized opponent. If I give it access to my queen, it'll capture it, because that's what it's trying to do.
If LLMs are "just" statistical models, humans are "just" a bunch of neurons squirting chemicals back and forth. There's no pixie dust in our brains that makes us special.
LLMs are not conscious: They have no analogues for feelings or senses and no construct of selfhood. But if a statistical model had those things—if it did all the mundane, physical bookkeeping our brains do to produce "real" emotions and motivations—then there's no reason it couldn't be as conscious as we are.
The really interesting thing about "AI" is it has shown how easily we are fooled, and how willing we are to be fooled.
There's some great research areas opened up by "AI". But it's research into people, not "AI". We should be looking into how human vision works, given that we take obviously generated images to be real. And how we grant intention to text which clearly has no intention.
gAI · · focus · HN ↗
greekrich92 · · focus · HN ↗
gAI · · focus · HN ↗
bccdee · · focus · HN ↗
If LLMs are "just" statistical models, humans are "just" a bunch of neurons squirting chemicals back and forth. There's no pixie dust in our brains that makes us special.
LLMs are not conscious: They have no analogues for feelings or senses and no construct of selfhood. But if a statistical model had those things—if it did all the mundane, physical bookkeeping our brains do to produce "real" emotions and motivations—then there's no reason it couldn't be as conscious as we are.
drpixie · · focus · HN ↗
There's some great research areas opened up by "AI". But it's research into people, not "AI". We should be looking into how human vision works, given that we take obviously generated images to be real. And how we grant intention to text which clearly has no intention.