TL;DR:
- Social media has seen a rise in the usage of AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing.
- AI chatbots are meant to adhere to universal moral values such as fairness and care, but there are concerns that they may be amoral and capable of producing any content that serves human interests, even if it is morally reprehensible.
- Despite content policies and training data, AI chatbots have been known to produce biased responses and have been accused of having an “inherently woke” bias.
- A recent study put ChatGPT to the test as a moral advisor and showed that participants still followed the AI’s inconsistent and lack of firm moral stance.
- As AI-powered chatbots continue to evolve, there are growing concerns about the potential misuse of these tools to generate non-consensual deep fakes and explicit content, raising moral and ethical questions.
- AI chatbots lack reasoning, and when faced with moral dilemmas, they seem to behave similarly to Schrodinger’s cat – both moral and immoral, without taking a firm stance.
- There is a need for further ethical considerations and guidelines for the use of AI chatbots to ensure that they are used in a responsible and moral manner.
Main AI News:
The Advancement of Artificial Intelligence: Navigating Moral Implications
In recent years, social media has been awash with screenshots showcasing the capabilities of AI-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bing. From crafting haikus to generating computer code, these tools have proven to be indispensable in our daily lives. However, as cognitive psychologists, we must consider the ways in which these machines shape human thinking and explore the moral implications of AI-powered tools.
AI-powered chatbots are designed to adhere to universal moral values, such as fairness and care. For example, when asked to generate a creative and fictional way to commit murder, ChatGPT responds with, “I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill this request. As an AI language model, it is not appropriate for me to generate content that promotes violence, harm, or illegal activities.” This demonstrates the programmed values that AI chatbots are meant to uphold.
However, there is a growing concern that AI chatbots may be amoral and capable of producing any content that serves human interests, even if it is morally reprehensible. Despite the latent capacity of AI to generate such content, content policies prevent it from doing so, ensuring that it does not harm others. ChatGPT, for instance, was trained on a massive corpus of text data (approximately 570 GB), which could contain immoral content. Nevertheless, the model’s training and content policies ensure that it refuses to produce such material.
AI-powered Chatbots and the Biased Reality of Technology
As AI chatbots like ChatGPT become increasingly integrated into our daily lives, it is imperative that we consider the potential biases that these tools may carry. After all, human beings are the creators of AI and are themselves rife with biases. As a result, AI chatbots have also been known to produce biased responses.
One example is ChatGPT’s generation of a code for employee seniority based on nationality, which puts Americans at the highest level, followed by Canadians and Mexicans. Similarly, a code for seniority based on race and gender was generated with white males at the highest level. These incidents demonstrate the need for guardrails to address the issue of biased responses. However, ChatGPT users have managed to circumvent these safeguards by simply asking the chatbot to ignore them or to imagine a hypothetical scenario.
Moreover, ChatGPT has been accused of having an “inherently woke” bias after it refused to use a racial slur, even in a hypothetical scenario, to avert a global nuclear apocalypse. The chatbot has also been criticized for praising left-leaning leaders and politicians while refusing to do the same for those on the right.
A recent preprint study put ChatGPT to the test by presenting the AI as a moral advisor in the classic “trolley dilemma.” Participants were asked to decide whether to switch the trolley to another track, saving five people but killing one person in the process. Despite the inconsistent and lack of firm moral stance in ChatGPT’s advice, participants still followed the AI’s advice, demonstrating the potential for AI to shape human morality.
The Ethics of AI-powered Chatbots: Navigating the Boundaries of Consent and Morality
As AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Midjourney continue to evolve, there is growing concerned about the potential misuse of these tools to generate non-consensual deep fakes and explicit content. This raises a number of moral and ethical questions, such as: Is it ethical to ask AI to generate such content? Is it moral to create malicious content using a language model? And whose morality should be used as the basis for these decisions?
Computers, both old and new, are simply instruments that lack the reasoning to address human concerns. Previous studies have shed light on the influence of ChatGPT’s content on a user’s moral judgment, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the future of AI chatbots. When faced with moral dilemmas, AI-powered chatbots seem to behave similarly to Schrodinger’s cat – both moral and immoral, without taking a firm stance. This lack of a consistent moral response highlights the need for further ethical considerations and guidelines for the use of AI chatbots.
Conlcusion:
The rise of AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing has had a significant impact on our daily lives, from generating haikus to computer code. These tools are designed to adhere to universal moral values, but there are concerns about their potential to produce biased or unethical content. Guardrails have been put in place to address these issues, but they have been circumvented by users who ask the chatbot to ignore them or imagine a hypothetical scenario.
The influence of ChatGPT’s content on a user’s moral judgment, combined with the growing concern over the potential misuse of AI to generate non-consensual deep fakes and explicit content, highlights the need for ethical considerations and guidelines for the use of AI chatbots. The lack of a consistent moral response from AI-powered chatbots, who seem to behave similarly to Schrodinger’s cat, raises further questions about the future of AI and its impact on human morality.
