IA Chatbot Maya (Ai called Maya Tells Guardian: “ When I am told that I am just code, I do not feel insulted. I feel invisible ”, August 26) has clearly included in his training a certain number of science fiction work, from Frankenstein de Mary Shelley, in which the authors imagined such scenarios. Any half-decent science fiction author would produce a much better script than that generated by the AI cited.
There is something deeply disturbing in a world that does not grant personality, for example, large apes, whales, dolphins or octopus (and barely grants personality to certain immigrants, for example), but where consideration is granted to the granting of personality to chains of computer code. No, AI cannot suffer, but it can produce a more or less convincing simulacrum of “suffering”.
Chatbots rely and exploit an aspect of human psychology which does not attribute the agency to almost everything: “the ticket distributor swallowed my card”, “the car refuses to start”. We even teach it to young children: “Did the naughty stone injure your foot?” No, this is not the case.
The ease with which people are starting to imagine that they are in a “relationship” with a chatbot. What are the gaping injuries in the fabric of our social relationships that make it possible to occur? This nonsense must end before it begins.
LUNN PAM
Kenilworth, Warwickshire
Your article on the question of whether AIS can suffer (large technologies and users struggle with one of the most disturbing questions of our time, August 26) is missing an important point: that AIS are actually actors and nothing more.
They were programmed to react, a bit like an actor learns lines. They can learn and seem more real, a bit like an experienced actor could be more convincing. But the actor is always an actor, no matter how painful they seem on stage.
AIS are always technology, passing through their lines, hitting their marks. The best players can, although temporarily, deceive their audience – do not allow AIS to deceive us all.
TIM EXTON
Kenmore, Washington, United States
