The Grounding Problem
The grounding problem is a challenge to the idea that a system which only has access to symbols, can refer to the reality beyond these symbols. This problem throws into doubt the ability of AI systems to understand or produce…
Category Uncategorised
Superintelligence
Superintelligence is the capacity for general reasoning and problem solving at a level that exceeds ordinary humans. Are current AI systems superintelligent? If not, will artificial superintelligence follow from current developments in deep learning? Key Points: What is superintelligence? Like…
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human mental characteristics to non-human entities. What factors make us treat an AI as if it were a human being, and are we making a mistake when we do so? Key Points: When a chatbot…
AI Metaphors
Metaphors present one thing in terms of another. In doing so, they enable us to understand an unfamiliar or complex subject by viewing it through the lens of something more familiar. They are cognitive tools that show us how to…
Theory of Mind in LLMs
Theory of mind is the cognitive capacity to attribute, infer, and predict the mental and emotional states of others and oneself. Do large language models have theory of mind? Do they “think” they themselves have mental lives or that their…
Moral Standing of AI
Moral standing is the feature of an entity identifying it as worthy of moral consideration, such that we have reason to avoid harming it for its own sake. What are the conditions under which an AI-system can be considered worthy…
Content Moderation
Content moderation refers to the removal, demotion, or labelling of potentially harmful user posts on social media. How should AI be used in the process of content moderation? And how should AI-generated content itself be moderated? Key Points: Social media…
Metacognition
Metacognition (literally cognition about cognition) is used to pick out a loose cluster of cognitive operations, skills, or capabilities that monitor and control other cognitive operations, skills, or capabilities. AI systems can perform operations over some of their own processes,…
Transformer Architecture
The transformer architecture is a deep learning architecture responsible for the recent dramatic advances in natural language processing and other forms of AI. What is it about the structure of large language models that has contributed to the incredible advances…
Bullshit
To bullshit is to utter (seemingly) meaningful words or sentences without regard for the truth, perhaps with the intent to disguise what one’s up to. Is this what Large Language Models are doing? Or are they “Hallucinating”? Large Language Models…