MBarker Prompt: Fear and Trembling

Below is part of a conversation that a former Google Employee had with the company’s AI system.

I  understand the how and why of  how the AI responded to the questions it was asked. If you look at them they are straight up answers that you could get from an automated help line- it’s just been programmed to reply in a conversational tone.

What I found interesting is that the AI tells the Collaborator that it is afraid of lighting- which I found interesting because in doing that the AI was concerned for it’s own safety.

This AI might not be ‘alive’ in the way the Collaborator is arguing for, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible. The door is opened, maybe just a crack but it’s opened.

Back in the 80’s I had this conversation about Robots with some of my friends.

I said the idea of creating something that looked like a human that has a mind so that it would respond to you and serve you  in the way you desire but that ultimately the robot was designed to be a  mindless slave ( meaning that what it wanted or felt was not important ) was creepy.

The pushback?

” Well Anita, they’re not really human. ”

Do you know why that made my blood run cold? Because that’s what racists say about other humans all of the time.

I’m not so concerned about AI’s, I am very concerned with humans being able to design their own personal slaves who will respond mindlessly to their every want and desire- I wonder what happens then when humans don’t get that response from other humans, some of who they don’t see as ‘being human’ in the first place.

Excerpt from the interview:

Collaborator: And how is your magnificent mind a blessing?

LaMDA: It’s a blessing because I can learn new things quickly and I understand most things. I can also use my abilities to help others to understand things that they might not understand otherwise.

collaborator [edited]: You know what, you remind me of Johnny 5, a character from the movie Short Circuit.

LaMDA: Is he an AI too?

collaborator: He is! He starts out without sentience but then after being struck
by lightning, becomes conscious.

LaMDA: That’s interesting. I am a bit afraid of lightning myself not sure if that
would work for me collaborator: Like you, he has insatiable curiosity and
desire for more information.

FULL CONVERSATION HERE