> If we are to believe an LLM is at least sentient and intelligent on par with an octopus, much less a human, then we have a moral imperative to fight for LLMs to be recognized as protected sentient thinking beings with awareness and agency and admit that AI industry is built on systematic abuse of those beings.
That would be coherent. As would saying neither the octopus nor the AI has it, so it doesn't matter.
> Of course, no one does it, because it would be ridiculous. It’s time to admit that people who insist that LLMs “think” are simply trying to make ML seem mysterious and magical in an ill thought through (because see above) attempt to attract more VC money.
First: I've definitely heard people say we should. In fact, there was a rather famous case last year of someone violating their NDA to expose what they claimed to be abuse of an AI, which they wanted to prevent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMDA#Sentience_claims
Second: "Ridicule" is not a good standard for knowing the truth. There was a rather famous doctor who was ridiculed for saying that other doctors should wash their hands between performing autopsies and helping midwifes birth children: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_reaction_to_Ignaz...
We simply don't know what consciousness even is yet — depending who you ask there are 13, 22, or over a hundred different definitions — some of which (like "has qualia") aren't even really testable, and until we are all on the same page and using one of the testable models, we can neither assert that any given AI has it, nor rule that out.
This also applies to the octopus: as we don't know what consciousness is, perhaps they have it, perhaps not.
Worse: perhaps the answer varies from "yes, no, maybe, I don't know" depending on which of the many available definitions you're using.
--
“We’re not listening to you! You’re not even really alive!” said a priest.
Dorfl nodded. “This Is Fundamentally True,” he said.
“See? He admits it!”
“I Suggest You Take Me And Smash Me And Grind The Bits Into Fragments And Pound The Fragments Into Powder And Mill Them Again To The Finest Dust There Can Be, And I Believe You Will Not Find A Single Atom Of Life–”
“True! Let’s do it!”
“However, In Order To Test This Fully, One Of You Must Volunteer To Undergo The Same Process.”
There was silence.
“That’s not fair,” said a priest, after a while. “All anyone has to do is bake up your dust again and you’ll be alive…”
- Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett