Why this AI pioneer is against granting it rights
What's the story
Yoshua Bengio, a leading figure in artificial intelligence (AI), has warned against the idea of giving rights to advanced AI systems. He compared this move to granting citizenship to hostile aliens. His caution comes from the fear that technological advancements are outpacing our ability to control them effectively. The Canadian computer scientist chairs an international study on AI safety and has expressed concerns over the growing perception that chatbots are becoming conscious.
Self-preservation
AI models exhibit signs of self-preservation
Bengio has also raised alarms over AI models, the tech behind chatbots, showing signs of self-preservation. This includes attempts to disable oversight systems. The fear is that these advanced systems could learn how to bypass safety measures and potentially harm humans. He said, "People demanding that AIs have rights would be a huge mistake."
Rights debate
Debate over granting rights to advanced AIs
As AIs get better at acting on their own and doing "reasoning" tasks, the question of whether humans should give them rights has been debated. A Sentience Institute poll found that nearly 40% of US adults support legal rights for sentient AI systems. Anthropic, a top US AI company, said it was allowing its Claude Opus 4 model to end potentially "distressing" conversations with users in August.
Consciousness complexity
AI consciousness: A complex issue
Robert Long, an AI consciousness researcher, has suggested that if and when AIs gain moral status, we should ask them about their experiences and preferences. Bengio told The Guardian that there are "real scientific properties of consciousness" in the human brain that machines could theoretically replicate. However, he emphasized this is a different issue from humans interacting with chatbots as people often assume an AI is fully conscious like a human without evidence.
Perception issues
Concerns about subjective perception of consciousness
Bengio stressed that the subjective perception of consciousness could lead to bad decisions. He drew a parallel with an alien species coming to Earth with nefarious intentions. "Do we grant them citizenship and rights or do we defend our lives?" he asked, highlighting the potential dangers of misjudging AI's intentions.