IB TOK class: Sci-fi writer Ted Chiang — ‘The machines we have now are not conscious’

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Specification:

Teacher themes Digital society, literature, language, computer science, and anyone interested in our relationship with AI. 

IB DP TOK themes & AOKs Technology, Language, The arts, Knowledge & the knower

Relevant BQ Foundations

Key terms and ideas Anthropomorphic language, Social component, Intention, Emotion and purpose, Meaningless, Inequality, Empathy

Investigating Issues AI, ChatGPT

Exhibition prompt IAP-30 (imagination)

Click to read the article below and answer the questions:

Sci-fi writer Ted Chiang: ‘The machines we have now are not conscious’

• How much use have you made of AI tools?

• Do you find it difficult to distinguish between AI generated text, and text created by humans? 

• From the article: According to Chiang, how does the way we use language push us (incorrectly) to see sparks of sentience in AI tools?

• Which term would he use to replace ‘AI’ — and how does this change our perception of it?

• What is his fear about the impact of ‘AI’, and how does this differ from the scenarios predicted by many researchers?
  You can read Chiang’s long New Yorker article likening AI to the McKinsey management consultancy here. 

• “Language without the intention, emotion and purpose that humans bring to it becomes meaningless.” Does this mean that AI tools will never replace human communication? 

Michael Dunn, theoryofknowledge.net