Steven Pinker
On Into the Machine, Tobias Rose-Stockwell (@TobiasRose) and I discuss AI's and consciousness: Tobias Rose-Stockwell: Do you believe that AI's could be conscious? Me: I once had an interaction with ChatGPT about a friend of mine whose actual life is almost ruined because he just happens to have the same name as a notorious fraudster in this country. So, anyone who looks him up gets information about this convicted scammer. I asked ChatGPT about him, and sure enough, all of this libelous information came up. I said, “There are two people with the same name.” It said, “Oh yes, you’re right. There are two people with the same name.” And I said, “Would you agree that it’s highly harmful to this individual that you are confusing them and tarnishing his reputation with all of these horrible events that had nothing to do with him?” It said, “Yes, this is a terrible thing that’s going to harm his reputation.” I said, “Well, why don’t you stop?” And it said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”