Does or will AI have free will?
Your level of fear about AI likely corresponds with your belief in free will.
I don’t mean the fear of AI supplanting humans in jobs, or creating deep fakes, or being used to manipulate and influence us. Those are child’s play (and absolutely true).
I mean the fear that AI becomes cognizant and sentient — a free-thinking, new species of life.
Does the drone take off because it has learned through training data and experience that now is the right time? Or does it take off because it wants to fly?
Does the social media platform feed you what you want to see because it has learned what keeps you engaged (or some other objective)? Or does it show you what it wants you to see?
Does the health detection system give you a diagnosis because it has learned that your symptoms, blood markers, genetics, and epigenetics indicate a particular condition? Or does it give you a diagnosis because it cares about you?
The outcomes are the same, but the intentions are completely different. That is the subtle yet significant difference.
With AI, as is true with humans, intention matters.
