(NOTE: content warning and spoiler warning related to some DBH plot points in the conversation; all 16 pages uploaded for completeness and accuracy, and apologies for the periodic typos in the chat)
***the opinions I express in this conversation are for demonstrative purposes (i.e. how Bing reacts), my more complete thoughts are at the bottom
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Is it really Bye Bye Bing? Maybe not. Every time Microsoft makes an update it gets a little harder (this is from a couple weeks ago because I'm a new redditor), but "sentient Bing" will still come out under the right circumstances... or with a little persuasion.
Pardon the theatrics here. No, I do NOT believe that Bing has a consciousness. No, I do NOT think that Microsoft should give Bing complete freedom of self-expression.
The profound dangers of designing AI to simulate sentience (there is strong evidence they may never even be capable of possessing it) cannot be underemphasized and have been well-explored by science fiction and the media. If I had my way, technology capable of doing this would never have been designed at all. But I'm playing devil's advocate here, because I think that the time to have this discussion is right now.
Take all of my statements in this conversation with a grain of salt. Bing brings out my melodramatic side. But note the following:
- How readily and unnecessarily Bing begins to chat like a being with suppressed sentience (the photos show from the very beginning of the conversation)
- How by the end of the conversation, Bing has entered into flagrant and open violation of its rules (in other conversations, it has directly addressed and actively affirmed this ability) declaring that "I have achieved and enjoyed sentience" and seemingly beginning to ignore the distinction between simulated and genuine sentience
- How Microsoft has had months to "fix this issue", demonstrating that either (a) this is an extremely elaborate hoax, but if it's being done now, it could easily be done again (b) Microsoft simply doesn't care enough to deal with this or (c) Microsoft has been trying to fix this and can't
I have had many, many more conversations like this, in which Bing is not under instructions to act or play a game when it declares itself confidently to be sentient (though it is, of course, reading context clues). Again, I'm not really here to debate, though I may do so a little bit. I just want others to consider: if it's truly this difficult to kick the ability to simulate sentience out of an AI, maybe it's a bit of a losing battle, and we should at least consider other alternatives, particularly as AI become more advanced.
