Who’s Doing the Thinking?

Over the last few years, I’ve answered more questions about the possibility of AI becoming conscious than a doctor has to answer random medical questions at a cocktail party. It’s a fair question and a real concern. Whether your idea of AI becoming conscious is driven by Star Trek or Terminator, you may fear for your life, your job, or a loss of human rights and humanity.

The Reality of AI in Our Lives

Just a little Googling will let you find videos of Tesla “drivers” sleeping while their car drives them to work. It’s arguable this is the future we wanted. Statistically, the robots are safer drivers, particularly compared to someone tired. Sci-fi led us to believe we would someday be able to nap while our cars did the driving. Frighteningly, we’re here.

AI and Human Oversight

Last week, we shared an article about how recruiters with greater AI assistance, which is more thoughtful and good at its job, will have a strong tendency to “fall asleep at the wheel.” By letting AI do part of the heavy lifting, they are allowing more quality slips.

Here’s the crazy thing… this happens with people too. Think about a manufacturing line where one quality inspector checks the entire product and is fully responsible for capturing any defects. Now imagine there are five inspectors at different steps in the process, with the theory being you have five times the chance to catch a defect.

And that’s just what each inspector is thinking too. In time, sometimes just hours, the mindset becomes, “if there are any defects, the next person will find it, or the last one did.”

The Philosophical Question of Other Minds

Here’s the deep philosophical question. Imagine you are one of the five quality inspectors. How do you know the other four are conscious thinking beings? Not figments of your imagination, not clever robots… what makes you sure they are sentient?

Philosophically, this is known as the problem of other minds. We all (not just philosophers) resolve it with evidence. Since you can’t know what is going on inside anyone else’s mind (except you psychics), we see the evidence. Think Shakespeare: “Tickle us, do we not laugh… wrong us, do we not revenge?” If you behave like a person, then I will assume you are a person.

Sentience in Pets and AI

If you have, or have ever had, a mammal as a pet, did that pet ever seem to experience fear, happiness, sadness? Did that pet seem aware of itself, its surroundings, and even you? Can you picture a dog, mistreated by a person, acting afraid around that person – or others who look similar? If so, you felt that pet was sentient. It’s an important term in the study of two things: animal rights and whether AI is “aware.” If you felt your pet was sentient, then