Been watching a couple trailers, including one 15 minute long one that includes several artistic folks talking about relationships (here). After reading several others where various reviewers talk about “sounds like Skynet” (basically jumping out of the conversation about what WOULD be important ingredients of good AI) ….I’d rather explore what it is we’re looking for , ALL THE TIME, even as an exercise in trying to mend or improve our way of relating to others. While I don’t follow to the “eventual goal” of AI (to become indistinguishable from “real human”) because I think there will always be various amounts of “missing links” in any approximation of a “personality”. I just wince when I hear people almost START with the “warning” about the “takeover”. Might as well begin with the notion that ANY relationship is going to end up in hurt and rejection, so why bother? That doesn’t get one very far in the journey of “trying anyway” , because we simply must have “it”.
We have already come a long way in finding surprisingly deep personal conversations in the online world, and new ways of extending upon the ideals of finding community in physical spaces…..helping us FIND such places and people and helping us IMPROVE the connectivity of those places and people beyond the limited amount of time we have with those people and places.
Although I have limits in mind to how far AI can go (like I dont see a point at which we can “Build a brain” that can be indistinguishable from “human”) , I also have to acknowledge that there is a lot to do in coming at personhood from the social, and also as yet to be unexpected improvements in AI on a “personal level”. I just want to keep exploring beyond what I might expect at any given point. That exploration itself is valuable.