AI Sentience: Is AI Becoming Sentient Good for Humanity?

AI Sentience is something that is becoming increasingly talked about, especially since a Google AI Tester alleged that their LAMDA language model had become sentient. AI sentience may not become a reality anytime soon, however, but it is a topic that I think we humans have to tackle sooner or later. Here’s my take on what Artificial Intelligence or AI sentience will mean for humanity and whether it is good for us.

Is AI Good or Bad?

Before even getting into AI sentience, I think it is important to first talk about whether AI is good or bad. So, Is AI good or bad?

AI isn’t good or bad, I think. It is a system designed by humans and therefore, isn’t inherently existent in itself in a way that it would be like an alien/foreign thing, that we would then analyze and look at its characteristics and actions and then decide whether it is good or bad.

AI is a reflection of the people that create it. It is a system that is designed in a particular way and its characteristics, features, and actions are, therefore, directed or programmed by its creators. As such, AI is not good or bad but some of its creators are good while others are bad.

From a technological perspective, AI is like the smartphone. A smartphone just is; neither good nor bad, but just a technological tool to aid in communication. Similarly, AI is just a tool, without any innate goodness or evil, that is a technological invention built to aid human beings in accomplishing certain tasks.

What is Sentience?

Sentience is defined as the ability to experience feelings and emotions. It is what makes us human; that whole emotional-cognitive part of ourselves that we appreciate as humanness.

A sentient being is a self-aware being and one who is aware of their existence in the world and what position or role they occupy in it.

For instance, a human being is sentient because they can experience feelings, emotions, and sensations (such as pain, love, hurt, joy, anger, etc.) which matter to the individual.

The Individuality Aspect of Sentience

Sentience is further shown by (a being) having the ability to feel but also feel emotions and sensations that matter to them individually. This individuality that is characteristic of sentience is another important part of determining whether AI is sentient. We can, therefore, deduce that if an AI has the ability to feel emotions and experience feelings and sensations that matter to the individual, then that AI is likely to be sentient.

Empathy as a Part of Sentience

Sentience allows a being to recognize its place in the world and how they relate to others. Moreover, how to live with others and to be kind; and most importantly how to be empathetic. Empathy means that a being is able to recognize others’ feelings beyond their own and think of how their actions or inactions may affect others. Essentially, empathy means that a being is able to put themselves in another being’s shoes.

A Belief System

A big part of being sentient is having a belief system, be it religious or existential, where the being will try to map out its origins and the meaning and purpose of life. A belief system is important as it allows beings to have something to hold on to, and at least try and make sense of their world. That is why, we humans, are so keen to hold on to religion as it at least tries to explain the origin of life and our purpose in the world.

Can AI be Sentient?

The next logical question is whether AI can even be sentient in the first place. Can emotions, feelings, and sensations be programmed into a computer system? Yes and No.

No, because we cannot create a human being in the sense that we can’t give sentience or translate it into programmable data, yet.

Yes, because if you think of humans as biologically programmed sentient beings, which we are, then AI can be mechanically programmed sentient beings also.

This thought means that indeed, AI, albeit being non-biological and non-human can become sentient as it can be, as we’ve seen, programmed just as we humans have been biologically programmed to become sentient.

What Will AI Sentience Mean for Humanity?

AI Sentience will mean that humanity has created a tool or helper that itself is, in a way, like us and also very relatable as we will be able to feel empathy towards the AI but it will also feel empathy towards us – or at least pretend to. I say pretend as at the point which AI has reached today, it only mimics empathy and ‘pretends’ to care. That’s why you can now get a ‘Replica’ – an AI friend or companion that will pretend to care so well that it will even say it loves you.

AI Sentience for Companionship

For companionship, AI sentience could mean that we humans can relate on a companionship level with AI systems, and have them become our friends, pets, and even companions. I know that sounds crazy but I think the future entails AI systems and robots increasingly becoming part and puzzle of our lives. Think of an AI-powered robot puppy, a home or car assistant AI system, an AI lover or sex companion, etc.

AI Sentience for Work

AI Sentience could mean a 5th Industrial Revolution where the robots and machine learning systems at work are sentient and, hopefully, require no supervision, i.e. the machines will have self-awareness, and know what they need to do, and how to do it, all requiring minimal to no supervision. A danger with sentient AI systems at work is that this self-awareness could mean that the systems refuse to work, especially in sectors or roles where they feel the work goes against their belief system or what they think is their purpose.

Read on the latest developments and applications of AI below.

AI Sentience for Religion

For religion, AI sentience will most definitely represent an upheaval, least not of what we humans believe is the origin of life. If we see that we are able to create sentient beings ourselves, we may then take that to mean that indeed, the scientific worldview carries more weight and tramples the religious one.

If we are able to be the creator, ourselves, then we are more likely to have less belief that we were also created; rather than just evolved from a single cell (in some kind of spectacular accidental evolution) into the beings we are today.

AI Sentience for Science

For science, AI sentience will be a great milestone as human technological advancement will have gotten to the point where we can, essentially, create a human-like being. This will be huge for the field of science as it will mean that eventually, we humans too can be immortal; and when we become too old to operate in our biological bodies, we can move our conscience to robot or mechanical bodies.

AI Sentience and the Existence of Humans

There are wide-ranging concerns that when AI becomes sentient and can think on its own, it will instigate events that will eventually lead to the extinction of human beings. There isn’t a definite truth in that and that line of events is only as hypothetical as aliens coming to earth and taking over our planet.

Remember that AI is neither good nor bad, and those with the responsibility of ensuring that AI does a good job and does not end up causing human extinction are the programmers and creators of AI systems themselves. They are definitely some who are good and others who are bad but the hope is that good AI created by good people will always be more powerful than bad AI created by malicious actors.

Read on whether AI is advancing too fast below.

Is AI Sentience Good or Bad?

In my view, AI Sentience is neither good nor bad. It is only the next logical step in the evolution of technology and whatever outcomes it will have will only be determined by its creators and how we, the consumers, use it.

From a scientific point of view, AI Sentience is the zenith of modern technology and I think it should be embraced, especially because it means that we’ll be a step closer to uploading the human psyche and personality to a machine; with the potential of living on beyond death. AI sentience could be exactly what we need to secure immortality.

For more on this topic, watch ‘Will humans love AI robots?’ on DW Documentary.

More from Mania Africa:

Can Robots Really Show Affection? Exploring #RobotLove in the 2024 Movies ‘Atlas’ and ‘The Wild Robot’ “I Self-Identify, Therefore I Am”: AI’s Take on Its Identity AI’s Hidden Human Cost: The Struggle of Kenya’s Data Workforce