No! AI Is Not Conscious; That's a SILLY Idea. Watch this Video Lecture by an AI Expert to Learn Why.
A simulation of consciousness is not the same as consciousness
The following is quoted from the linked website page:
In this lecture given at the G10 conference, the director of the Essentia Foundation, Bernardo Kastrup, argues why the idea of conscious AI, though we cannot refute it categorically, is silly. Perhaps we should rather ask ourselves the question why we entertain the idea of sentient computers in the first place. According to Kastrup, this has a lot to do with the fact that most computer scientists are power users of computers but they’ve never built a computer themselves. If they had, they would be familiar with the nuts and bolts, and they would understand that the idea of microscopic transistors becoming conscious is not that different than proposing that a sufficiently complex sewage system—consisting of water pipes and valves—would become conscious.
Exactly because AI is having a fundamental impact on society with many regulatory and perhaps even existential challenges, it is very important that especially in academia we strongly distinguish between fact and fiction: to think that AI’s running on Turing machines—i.e. all AI’s we currently have—can become conscious is not even science fiction, it’s pure fantasy.
Yes, dear Star Trek fans, the show’s Data character is conscious and (after getting the emotion chip eventually) has real emotions. And when Data’s personhood was challenged, with Captain Picard as his lawyer Data won the case and was declared officially and legally a person not a thing. But there is a qualitative difference between what we imagine the fictional Data to be and what actual current AI is, right?
You know the story of the first pilotless passenger jet plane, right?
As the plane leveled off and entered cruise mode after its take off and the “fasten your seat belt” lights went off, the passengers heard the from the speakers in the cabin the following message:
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Global Air flight 283 from New York to Tokyo. We at Global Air want to congratulate you for being the very first passengers on our history-making brand new and wonderful fully automated flight. That’s right! There are no human pilots on board this plane. But rest assured, this automated plane has the best AI pilot imaginable. There is absolutely nothing to worry about…worry about…worry about…worry about…worry about….
Postscript August 19, 2024. Here’s a detailed article, titled “What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work?” Enjoy!