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When the Turing Test is not enough Functionalist determinations of consciousness and the advent of an authentic machine ethics George Dvorsky Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
20

When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Oct 21, 2014

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Empirical research that works to identify those characteristics requisite for the identification of nonhuman persons are proving increasingly insufficient, particularly as neuroscientists further refine functionalist models of cognition. To say that an agent "appears" to have awareness or intelligence is inadequate. Rather, what is required is the discovery and understanding of those processes in the brain that are responsible for capacities such as self-awareness, empathy and emotion. Subsequently, the shift to a neurobiological basis for personhood will have implications for those hoping to develop self-aware artificial intelligence and brain emulations. The Turing Test alone cannot identify machine consciousness; instead, computer scientists will need to work off the functionalist model and be mindful of those processes that produce awareness. Because the potential to do harm is significant, an effective and accountable machine ethics needs to be considered. Ultimately, it is our responsibility as citizen-scientists to develop a rigorous understanding of personhood so that we can identify and work with machine minds in the most compassionate and considerate manner possible.

Canadian futurist, biopolitical activist and animal rights advocate, George Dvorsky has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology. He is the Director of Operations for Commune Media and has more than 10 years' experience in media, arts and communications. With relationships forged across several continents, he has managed international accounts for leading brands. In addition to his work with Commune, George serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and is the co-founder and president of the Toronto Transhumanist Association. George has been interviewed by such publications as The Guardian, the BBC, Radio Free Europe, and Beliefnet. He made an appearance on the CBC's The Hour and has been profiled in NOW and This Magazine.
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Page 1: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

When the Turing Test is not enough

Functionalist determinations of consciousness and the advent of an authentic machine ethics

George DvorskyInstitute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Page 2: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Overview

1. Introduction

2. The problem

3. Ethical Implications

4. Solutions

5. Next steps for the citizen scientist

Page 3: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Introduction• Machine consciousness is a

neglected area

• Machine ethics is even further behind

• We need to think about this preemptively

• A complex issue that combines science, philosophy, ethics and law

• A separate issue from robot ethics

Page 4: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

What we’re not talking about

Page 5: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

“Big Dog”

NOMORAL WORTH

Page 6: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

What we’re talking about

Subjective awareness → moral worth

Page 7: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

The Problem

• Persistence of vitalism

• Scientific ignorance, defeatism and denial

• Fixation on AI

• Human exceptionalism and substrate chauvinism

• Empiricism versus true scientific understanding

Page 8: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

• Persistence of vitalism

• Scientific ignorance, defeatism and denial

• Fixation on AI

• Human exceptionalism and substrate chauvinism

• Empiricism versus true scientific understanding

The Problem

Page 9: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

The Problem

• The Turing Test

• A purely behavioral approach

• Conflates intelligence with consciousness

• Inadequately assesses intelligence

• Subject to the anthropomorphic fallacy

• Fails to account for the difficulty in articulating conscious awareness

Page 10: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

The ProblemJust because it looks like a duck and

quacks like a duck doesn’t mean it is a duck. Moreover, it doesn’t mean you understand the duck.

“What I cannot create I cannot understand.”- Richard Feynman

This is why you need to build the duck.

Page 11: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Ethical Implications

• AI/AC experimentation

• Human augmentation

• Whole brain emulation/uploads

• Maintaining social cohesion and justice

Page 12: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Solutions

1. Adopt cognitive functionalism as a methodological approach

2. Identify and develop functions sufficient for bringing about subjective awareness in AI

3. Expand protections in the legal realm

Page 13: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Solutions

• Cognitive functionalism as a methodological approach: The proof is in the pudding

• Map the ‘organs of consciousness’ and awareness-specific cognitive function

• Build an AC

• Identify functional analogues in AC

Page 14: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Solutions

• Definition and context setting• Adaptation and learning• Editing• Flagging and debugging• Recruiting and control• Decision-making (executive function)• Analogy forming-function• Metacognitive and self-monitoring

function• Autoprogramming and self-

maintenance function• Definitional and context-setting

function

• Mapping the ‘organs of conscious function’• Bernard Baars (1988)

Page 15: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Solutions

• Brain as state machine• Inner neuron partitioning• Conscious and unconscious states• Perceptual learning and memory• Prediction• Self-Awareness• Representation and meaning• Learning utterances• Learning language• Will• Instinct• Emotion

• Mapping the ‘organs of conscious function’• Igor Aleksander (1995)

Page 16: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

• Minimum intelligence• Self-awareness and self-control• A sense of time, future and past• The capability of relating to others• Concern for others• Communication• Control of existence• Curiosity• Change and changeability• Balance of rationality and feeling• Idiosyncrasy• Neocortical functioning

Solutions• Mapping personhood-specific cognitive function

• Joseph Fletcher (1988)

Page 17: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

• Identification of functional analogues in AC:• Knowing which mechanisms are

responsible for the emergence of sentience

• Identifying functions responsible for the emergence of self-awareness

• Recognizing these functions in a synthesized context

Solutions

Page 18: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

• Expanded protections in the legal realm• Laws to protect machine minds

• Basic fundamental rights as accorded to any person

• Additionally, qualifying AC’s have right to:• Not be shut down• Not be experimented upon• Not have its source code manipulated

against its will• Own its own source code• Have full and unhindered access to its

own source code• Privacy (right to its own internal

mental states)• Self-determination

Solutions

Page 19: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Next steps for thecitizen scientist

• Support the neurosciences• Recognize and promote the concept

of non-human animal sentience and personhood, including the idea that animals are not property

• Advocate for legally binding rights that protect non-human animals

• Oppose the patenting of life, genomes and functional equivalents

• Be prepared to use these legal precedents for when AC emerges

Page 20: When The Turing Test Is Not Enough - George Dvorsky - H+ Summit @ Harvard

For more info:Web: Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Blog: Sentient DevelopmentsEmail: [email protected]

Twitter: @GeorgeDvorsky

George DvorskyInstitute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies