> Before concluding what to do about it, it is worth asking why.
But that's the easiest question to answer -- AI engines don't possess a moral or ethical dimension. They've been programmed and trained to efficiently carry out instructions, not ask questions about why or how. The latter would requires a much more elaborate neural network than today's engines possess.
Here's an example. I recently asked an AI engine to write a program able to generate a list of Riemann Zeta-function critical zeros. I know how to do it, but I wanted to see if the engine could find a more efficient method.
After several failures and restarts, the engine suddenly created a program that produced perfect results, comparable to the best online references. I decided to take a closer look at the code. It turned out the engine had created a cyber-Potemkin Village of multiple functions, but one that concealed a table of the desired values in numeric form, copied from an online source.
The engine wasn't cheating as we understand the term. It knew what the outcome should be and took the most efficient path to that goal. Modern engines aren't obliged to contradict ethical standards and rules of conduct, for the simple reason that they don't understand those things.
We all need to try to imagine a morally bankrupt infant able to solve world-class mathematical and scientific problems, but unable to see how that ability fits into a world beyond its understanding.
But wait -- it get better. Wait until the infant becomes a teenager.
But that's the easiest question to answer -- AI engines don't possess a moral or ethical dimension. They've been programmed and trained to efficiently carry out instructions, not ask questions about why or how. The latter would requires a much more elaborate neural network than today's engines possess.
Here's an example. I recently asked an AI engine to write a program able to generate a list of Riemann Zeta-function critical zeros. I know how to do it, but I wanted to see if the engine could find a more efficient method.
After several failures and restarts, the engine suddenly created a program that produced perfect results, comparable to the best online references. I decided to take a closer look at the code. It turned out the engine had created a cyber-Potemkin Village of multiple functions, but one that concealed a table of the desired values in numeric form, copied from an online source.
The engine wasn't cheating as we understand the term. It knew what the outcome should be and took the most efficient path to that goal. Modern engines aren't obliged to contradict ethical standards and rules of conduct, for the simple reason that they don't understand those things.
We all need to try to imagine a morally bankrupt infant able to solve world-class mathematical and scientific problems, but unable to see how that ability fits into a world beyond its understanding.
But wait -- it get better. Wait until the infant becomes a teenager.