4 ms·

Artificial Intelligence Machine Gets Testy With Its Programmer

24 points by jonwachob91 11y ago

orionblastar 11y ago
It doesn't know or it wants to keep ethics and morals it holds as a secret after reading what happens to AIs in movies.
Bedon292 11y ago
The title for this seems a bit off. The programmers asked the AI what morality is, the AI did not ask what morality is.
- sp332 11y ago
  I wasn't confused by the title, but it wouldn't hurt to rephrase it. Minimally: "Google-built AI was asked what morality is".
- jonwachob91 11y ago
  Hmmm - I see your point. I felt the WSJ title was click-bait-esk so I was going for something else. Suggestions?
- pimlottc 11y ago
  It could be read either way. In headlinese, I read it as "Google built AI [was] asked what morality is" EDIT: Previous title was "Google built AI asked what morality is"
- SilasX 11y ago
  It's an issue of ambiguity in terse "headline grammar". It's supposed to be read as: "Google-built AI [was] asked what morality is" It's common to use a past-participle and drop the "to be" (copula) in headlines. For example: "Google-built AI surprised by City Hall." It doesn't mean the AI surprised [someone] next to City Hall, but that it is the object of the surprise.
tbomb 11y ago
>Machine: And how I’m not in the mood for a philosophical debate. >Human: What do you like to talk about? >Machine: Nothing. It sounds like they built Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. EDIT: formatting
- sp332 11y ago
  It was trained from movie scripts after all.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
pimlottc 11y ago
<insert misleading stock photo unrelated to the specifics of the story> I'm really irked by this trend. It's as bad as clickbait titles.
- Vexs 11y ago
  It was always interesting reading about bitcoin in the news and seeing matrix-esque numbers with proud gold coins embossed with a B on it. There's a wonderful disconnect between media depictions of tech and tech.
crusso 11y ago
Researchers have shown that machines are inching closer to self-learning, and perhaps even copping a little attitude. Not at all the reaction I had. There could be some serious AI horsepower underlying the Google experiment, but it wasn't really evident from that transcript. It looked like output that Eliza could have generated.
- joe_the_user 11y ago
  Indeed, the "wow computers talking seem deep" illusion is quite old. ELIZA was created between 1964 and 1966. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect
  - hga 11y ago
    Even better, as soon as PARRY, the artifical paranoid was created (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARRY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARRY), it became a fun parlor trick to hook them up to each other over the ARPANET; I saw that live in the summer of 1978.
- masswerk 11y ago
  Ok, let's put it on a test … YOU: Tell me the definition of morality. ELIZA: That is interesting. Please continue. YOU: Look, I need help; I need to know more about morality… ELIZA: Suppose you got help soon. YOU: Okay, I need to know how I should behave morally… ELIZA: What would it mean to you if you got to know how you should behave morally… ? YOU: Is morality and ethics the same? ELIZA: What other connections do you see ? YOU: What are the things that I do to be immoral? ELIZA: Are they always the things that you do to be immoral ? YOU: Give me some examples of moral actions… ELIZA: What does that suggest to you ? YOU: Alright, morality? ELIZA: Does talking about this bother you ? YOU: What is integrity? ELIZA: Why do you ask ? YOU: Be moral! ELIZA: Please go on. YOU: I really like our discussion on morality and ethics… ELIZA: Can you elaborate on that ? YOU: What do you like to talk about? ELIZA: You're not really talking about me -- are you ? http://www.masswerk.at/elizabot/ http://www.masswerk.at/elizabot/ [Edit: formatting]
Udo 11y ago
So they filled movie scripts into a chat bot and then had an incoherent conversation with it - the remarkable part being that the incoherent conversation was about morality. On its own, this seems like a non-story. Is this an effort to push into public awareness the fear that AGI when it eventually arises will be unethical?
- jblow 11y ago
  All AI articles are equally vacuous. I have not bothered to read them for at least 10 years now.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- ikeboy 11y ago
  >1:56 pm ET Jun 26, 2015 (The original paper was posted here, though https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9760864 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9760864
zo7 11y ago
Surprised they left this out: (from earlier in the conversation) > Human: what is immoral ? > Machine: the fact that you have a child . Rather fluffy article though.
Zigurd 11y ago
Was that something? You might as well have asked "What's for dinner?" of a system that would reply "I don't know food."

24 points by jonwachob91 11y ago

orionblastar 11y ago

It doesn't know or it wants to keep ethics and morals it holds as a secret after reading what happens to AIs in movies.

Bedon292 11y ago

The title for this seems a bit off. The programmers asked the AI what morality is, the AI did not ask what morality is.

sp332 11y ago
I wasn't confused by the title, but it wouldn't hurt to rephrase it. Minimally: "Google-built AI was asked what morality is".
jonwachob91 11y ago
Hmmm - I see your point. I felt the WSJ title was click-bait-esk so I was going for something else. Suggestions?
pimlottc 11y ago
It could be read either way. In headlinese, I read it as "Google built AI [was] asked what morality is" EDIT: Previous title was "Google built AI asked what morality is"
SilasX 11y ago
It's an issue of ambiguity in terse "headline grammar". It's supposed to be read as: "Google-built AI [was] asked what morality is" It's common to use a past-participle and drop the "to be" (copula) in headlines. For example: "Google-built AI surprised by City Hall." It doesn't mean the AI surprised [someone] next to City Hall, but that it is the object of the surprise.

tbomb 11y ago

>Machine: And how I’m not in the mood for a philosophical debate. >Human: What do you like to talk about? >Machine: Nothing. It sounds like they built Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. EDIT: formatting

sp332 11y ago
It was trained from movie scripts after all.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

pimlottc 11y ago

<insert misleading stock photo unrelated to the specifics of the story> I'm really irked by this trend. It's as bad as clickbait titles.

Vexs 11y ago
It was always interesting reading about bitcoin in the news and seeing matrix-esque numbers with proud gold coins embossed with a B on it. There's a wonderful disconnect between media depictions of tech and tech.

crusso 11y ago

Researchers have shown that machines are inching closer to self-learning, and perhaps even copping a little attitude. Not at all the reaction I had. There could be some serious AI horsepower underlying the Google experiment, but it wasn't really evident from that transcript. It looked like output that Eliza could have generated.

joe_the_user 11y ago
Indeed, the "wow computers talking seem deep" illusion is quite old. ELIZA was created between 1964 and 1966. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect
- hga 11y ago
  Even better, as soon as PARRY, the artifical paranoid was created (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARRY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARRY), it became a fun parlor trick to hook them up to each other over the ARPANET; I saw that live in the summer of 1978.
masswerk 11y ago
Ok, let's put it on a test … YOU: Tell me the definition of morality. ELIZA: That is interesting. Please continue. YOU: Look, I need help; I need to know more about morality… ELIZA: Suppose you got help soon. YOU: Okay, I need to know how I should behave morally… ELIZA: What would it mean to you if you got to know how you should behave morally… ? YOU: Is morality and ethics the same? ELIZA: What other connections do you see ? YOU: What are the things that I do to be immoral? ELIZA: Are they always the things that you do to be immoral ? YOU: Give me some examples of moral actions… ELIZA: What does that suggest to you ? YOU: Alright, morality? ELIZA: Does talking about this bother you ? YOU: What is integrity? ELIZA: Why do you ask ? YOU: Be moral! ELIZA: Please go on. YOU: I really like our discussion on morality and ethics… ELIZA: Can you elaborate on that ? YOU: What do you like to talk about? ELIZA: You're not really talking about me -- are you ? http://www.masswerk.at/elizabot/ http://www.masswerk.at/elizabot/ [Edit: formatting]

Udo 11y ago

So they filled movie scripts into a chat bot and then had an incoherent conversation with it - the remarkable part being that the incoherent conversation was about morality. On its own, this seems like a non-story. Is this an effort to push into public awareness the fear that AGI when it eventually arises will be unethical?

jblow 11y ago
All AI articles are equally vacuous. I have not bothered to read them for at least 10 years now.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

ikeboy 11y ago
>1:56 pm ET Jun 26, 2015 (The original paper was posted here, though https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9760864 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9760864

zo7 11y ago

Surprised they left this out: (from earlier in the conversation) > Human: what is immoral ? > Machine: the fact that you have a child . Rather fluffy article though.

Zigurd 11y ago

Was that something? You might as well have asked "What's for dinner?" of a system that would reply "I don't know food."