Philosophy:Artificial philosophy

Artificial philosophy is a philosophical branch conceived by author Louis Molnar to consider what a being bestowed with artificial intelligence (AI) might consider about its own existence once it reaches a higher state of consciousness. The author reasons in his dissertation that at some point, either through programming or organic self-development, robots will not see themselves as extensions of those that created them, and that their saying "Who am I?" will not lead them to think of themselves as one with humans. This concept was expressed in Molnar's article A Step Beyond AI: Artificial Philosophy, which was featured in the scientific journal "Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications". Molnar directly references the statement of famous philosopher René Descartes in which he states "I think, therefore I am" where he attempts to answer the question of "How can I prove that I exist?" This philosophical concept is brought up so that Molnar can give context to the reader, and shine light on the contemplation process he undergoes when questioning the capability of advanced A.I to introspect and think for themselves.

Philosophy's Role in Artificial Intelligence Development

While the subject of philosophy and artificial intelligence may not seem too connected they are both crucial to the advancement of both fields going further. AI have already been able to practice philosophy in a minor way thanks to some algorithms and computations that utilize decision trees. In this process the AI must make a decision that will cause a branch of other decisions to sprout from the previous one, with AI taking into account its main goal. This model was tested through the lens of a game where the AI needed to make the right decisions to ensure a victory. The common approach towards developing human-like AI usually involves the connectionist method, where computer scientists attempt to replicate the connecting neuron process in the human brain and apply it to AI. This once common view of AI development has been questioned in its efficiency as of late due to the many complication found within the process. A method also being tested within AI is the Adaptation Aspiration Theory, where AI are being challenged to make decisions based on a variety of factors that don't translate one to one into concrete calculated values or formulas. One of the scenarios tested for AI was the question of "Where is the best place for a specific person to move?" and it was tasked with sorting through factors such as the neighborhood, budget, distance from family, and others. While people perceive AI development as just improving computer specs it has evolved to be about adapting and redefining philosophy so that it may be applied to machine learning.

The Professional View of Advanced Artificial Intelligence

On February 9, 2022 Ilya Sutskever, chief scientist of the OpenAI research group, posted on Twitter that “it may be that today’s large neural networks are slightly conscious.” What followed was a flurry of articles, most notably the following day by Futurism Magazine which noted "the widely accepted idea among AI researchers is that the tech has made great strides over the past decade, but still falls far short of human intelligence, nevermind being anywhere close to experiencing the world consciously."

This observation by Sutskever has created a schism in the artificial intelligence world—one that believes in the possibility of conscious AI and one that does not. Coming to the defense of Sutskever was MIT computer scientist Tamay Besiroglu who tweeted, “Seeing so many prominent [machine learning] folks ridiculing this idea is disappointing. It makes me less hopeful in the field’s ability to seriously take on some of the profound, weird and important questions that they’ll undoubtedly be faced with over the next few decades.”

The schism is ongoing.

The Societal View of Advanced Artificial Intelligence

Attempts to Subside Worries

The concept of advanced AI terrorizing and usurping humanity is a fear that has been created by unrealistic Hollywood films, and has caused a feeling of anxiousness over the masses regarding the future of artificial intelligence. Computer scientists are attempting to dispel the negative connotation surrounding the future of AI by employing a few different methods. Some researches believe that it is best to clarify what the "intelligence" in artificial intelligence truly means. There is a supposed difference between the intelligence of biological beings and inorganic beings. Intelligence to an organic being would be the ability to apply knowledge and logic to achieve a specific goal, while for machinery intelligence improving specifications and adapting to algorithms to learn preferences as shown through "smart" phones. Some researchers are developing AI with a method known as value alignment. This aims to implement human values and morality into AI.

Reasoning Behind the Paranoia

Even with researchers trying their best to not make humanity worry about the complications behind the inevitable rise of human-like AI, people's anxiety towards the topic will continue to exist. There are those who believe that even if AI were to become what would be debatably sentient that AI cannot be trusted. Their reasoning behind this belief is that people can't trust machines because they have simply relied on them as tools for so long and this preconception will supposedly not be changed easily. Another reasoning behind the supposed implausibility of man and machine trust and relationships is the difference in end goals between a human and an AI. There is research of AI being able to predict and foresee human actions and movements. This has sparked fear in many people for obvious reasons. If machines with this capability were to be used in warfare, there would be a massive amount of casualties if an AI had the ability to foresee every action a human might take.

Human Understanding of AI Information Processing

Humans have an ability to think in esoteric forms and it's unclear whether AI will develop this. Philosophy often follows a non-linear path and recent advances have shown that AI have this ability. In his 2021 book, "The Age of AI: And Our Human Future", Henry Kissinger noted that humans may not have the ability to understand how AI solve problems or indeed think.

Unification of Computer Science and Philosophy

While Computer Science and Philosophy seem like two subjects that wouldn't directly affect each other, they most certainly do. To call back too Molnar's reference of Descartes' Cogito Theory (I think, therefore I am), the development of advanced AI may assist us in furthering our philosophical knowledge. Institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created schools to carry forward Molnar's work. The Cogito Theory relies on the input and belief of the concept of Dualism, which is the belief that the mind and the body are two separate entities that both affect the other. Glimpses of this belief are found in many religions through the distinction of the body and the soul. So if an AI were capable of asking itself the question of "How do I prove I exist?", would it then imply that the machine has a soul just like a human would? The future of philosophy seems like its on the verge of a figurative renaissance, just waiting for the development of advanced AI to fling the field forward. Another philosophical debate that will be addressed through the creation of AI is the concept of free-will vs. scientific determinism. The belief behind scientific determinism is that because the universe is run by natural laws and everything that happens is caused and necessitated by the laws of nature operating on whatever exists in the previous moment, then all behavior of humans is caused and necessitated by the laws of nature, including human decisions and actions. With AI thrown into the mix of this scenario, their computing does not operate on what we know as natural law, so this would be a huge swing against the belief of scientific determinism. Researchers believe that the most important action for an AI to complete would for it to be capable of reflecting upon its own actions, and indeed this appears to have happened. With the vast amount of philosophical questions that haven't had any breakthrough innovations for decades the production and implementation of advanced AI technology is what's nedded for the field to become fresh and new once again. With the rise of machine cognition there will be a parallel growth in the philosophical community as well.

Artificial Philosophy in Entertainment

The sci-fi 2018 game Detroit by Sony Interactive Entertainment imagines a near-future 2038 scenario in which intelligent androids develop a sense of their individuality and uniqueness. This leads to an AI declaration of humanity and a redefinition of what it means to be human.