Thread

1. pmontra · 1791058495 · focus · HN ↗

   Would Anthropic be allowed to sell LLMs in their current form, and us to use them as we use them, if their were deemed to be conscious? I know that they are not human so maybe slavery would not be an issue but consciousness would open a number of issues.

   1. kelseyfrog · 1791062017 · focus · HN ↗

      It's asking the wrong question. Their phenomenological status is a function of whatever makes shareholders the most money. If it makes more money for them to be conscious then that is what they'll be.

      Definitions of consciousness are not immune to economic factors. Metaphysics has always been downstream of economics. See slavery, corporate personhood, women's legal identity, child labor, moral and legal status of animals, embryos and fetuses, indigenous land rights, intellectual property, environmental entities, and data and digital identity.

      1. enoint · 1791106465 · focus · HN ↗

         Anthropic probably went to the Pope with the question, “what would you do if AI asked to be baptized?”, which is slightly different than questions of consciousness. This pope will probably have to define the process to determine if AI is a person with relation to baptism.

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