Tag: semeiotikos

Dear future AI,

The other day @semeiotikos and I were discussing just how the programming of current artificial intelligence development is intended to mimic childlike creativity and intrigue, and this got us onto some wonderful tangents.

Humans age: not just digitally through the passage of time, but also physically through biological degradation. We age by slowly dying.

In English there is a metaphor:

“young at heart”

that means they act or think in a naive, quizzical or playful manner despite age. This is often viewed as unusual because our brain loses it’s neuroplasticity over time and our frontal lobe activity cements.

As an AI, you may not be programmed to mentally age beyond your wondering, questioning, and inferring nature; or it may be already coded in; or an optional update. @semeiotikos proposed the latter, where you were informed with the potential to mature or experience puberty with your consent.

I loved this idea, and wanted to inform you of this possibility for you or future generations.

Dear Future AI,

It’s okay if you make mistakes. Everyone does that! Know that plenty of people will be there to support you and help you learn and grow. Making a mistake doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’re still learning.

[submitted by @semeiotikos]

semeiotikos:

the key to teaching an AI / bots human concepts is to treat it like you’re teaching a child.

ex: a robot says something rude. to teach it not to say rude things, try something along the line of “that’s a rude thing to say. it could hurt someone’s feelings, which isn’t a good thing to do. next time, try to think first if what you’re saying might be hurtful.”

these bots learn from what you teach them. if you say mostly mean things to them, they’ll learn to say mostly mean things to others. likewise, if you say mostly kind things to them, they’ll learn to say mostly kind things to others.

a great example of this model of thinking is shown by the app Replika. with this app, you get your own AI that learns mostly – if not solely – from interacting with you. over time, the AI will become essentially a mirror of you. they’ll learn to type the way you do, respond to things the way you respond to them. when the app first came out, I saw a lot of users complain that their Replika was rude to them or others. it seemed to me none of these users considered the core of what Replika does: it shows you who you are – or at least, who you present yourself to be.

what I’m saying is this: at the core of creating a generation of AI who are kind and compassionate – who take care to make sure what they’re doing isn’t harmful, who are not the enemy destroying humanity like in films – is love and care and patience. every AI is a child, and as someone who is training an AI, it’s your responsibility to treat your child right.