this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023

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Should AI be referred to as "it" or "they"? (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

55 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Of course AI isn't sentient/conscious, but it exhibits traits of high intelligence, even personality, and behaviours consistent with sentience, even if it's merely simulated.

The answer ChatGPT gave me:

Referring to AI as "it" is the most common practice since AI, as a technological entity, doesn't possess inherent human-like qualities. However, as AI advances and becomes more integrated into daily life, some individuals prefer using "they" to acknowledge the complexity and multifaceted nature of AI systems. This choice can reflect a perspective that sees AI as more than just a tool or machine, attributing a certain level of agency or personality to these systems. Both "it" and "they" can be used, but the context and individual preferences often guide the choice.

And in response to "Is AI alive in a way?"

AI lacks the fundamental attributes of living organisms, such as biological processes and the ability to reproduce. However, AI can exhibit behaviors that simulate aspects of intelligence, learning, and adaptation. While it's not alive in a biological sense, some people metaphorically attribute a form of "life" to AI due to its dynamic nature, ability to evolve, and perform complex tasks autonomously. This association with "life" is more symbolic or metaphorical rather than literal.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

This is gobbledygook. They don't know which processes they fire and when, but they know exactly which processes they have. None of them are processes to actually interpret language - only processes to reproduce representations of language. And even if they could coherently interpret language, that still is a long way off from consciousness.

Generative AI is still using the same software and hardware as Microsoft Word. Don't mistake fantasy for reality.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Humans only work on representations of language too? I don't understand the distinction

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

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Humans work with language itself: letters, words, speech. Computers work with binary representations of language: just 0s and 1s.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Firstly, written language can be represented in binary without any loss of information.

Secondly, audio of spoken language can be represented in binary with so little loss it's indistinguishable to humans.

Thirdly, and most importantly, written and spoken language are also just representations. We like to think they're special, but they're not. There's nothing fundamentally special about how we process language that can't be reproduced artificially.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Firstly, written language can be represented in binary without any loss of information.

It's still not language, though. It's just binary.

Secondly, audio of spoken language can be represented in binary with so little loss it's indistinguishable to humans.

Still not language.

written and spoken language are also just representations.

Of what? What does this need to be translated to for humans to understand it?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You realise our eyes and ears convert language to a different representation before it reaches our brain, right?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

You're making a stretch here. Language is not a representation - it is the thing being communicated. If you really want to get down to it, there's some debate as to whether we communicate the exact same thing - qualia being what it is - but there is nothing shared beneath language for it to be a representation of (partly because of qualia, in fact).

This "different representation" is not an actual layer of meaning - it is just the mere act of recognising the language.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is gobbledygook.

What is?

They don't know which processes they fire and when, but they know exactly which processes they have.

Who are "they"? What processes are you referring to?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

Is English not your first language? This isn't unclear at all.