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Anthropic tried to persuade Pope that AI could be conscious being

57 points · 95 comments · Topfi

  1. SwellJoe · · focus · HN ↗
    The folks leading the AI industry, at least in the US, continue to embarrass themselves and all of us with this nonsense.

    There may come a time, but it's silly to mistake the LLMs automaton behavior for consciousness.

    1. operatingthetan · · focus · HN ↗
      It's really confusing because I don't think it takes more than a basic understanding of how an LLM works to realize it's not conscious. E.g. 'memory' is just context window stuffing. How does Anthropic not get that?
      1. SwellJoe · · focus · HN ↗
        Yeah, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I keep thinking, "These are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."

        There have obviously been smart people involved in making this stuff happen, but more and more I'm convinced most of these new AI billionaires were just in the right place at the right time. They raised money better and faster than anyone else, played faster and looser with copyright violations, and that's pretty much how we got here.

        The computers are doing math. It's not even complicated math, there's just a lot of it. It's amazing that the math results in what it does, but you would think the guys running the machines that turn electricity into software would understand it enough to not think there's a real live boy in there.

        1. queenkjuul · · focus · HN ↗
          I mean, i do think Sam Altman is the kind of complete moron that might believe something insane like that, and I think Dario Amodei is the kind of delusional narcissist that could convince himself he's inventing a new kind of life. But the actual engineers? And all the developers that use the tech? They really ought to know better
          1. operatingthetan · · focus · HN ↗
            Optimistically I think Altman and Amodei are willing to say literally anything to further their interests. Which is a different problem than stupidity, if it applies.
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