Higher risk of social rupture as dispute over AI 'feelings' intensifies

Significant "social ruptures" are looming between people who think artificial intelligence systems are conscious and those who believe the technology feels nothing, a leading philosopher has said.

- Robert Booth

The comments, from Jonathan Birch, a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics, were made as governments prepared to gather this week in San Francisco to agree guardrails to tackle the most severe risks of AI.

This month, a transatlantic group of academics predicted that the dawn of consciousness in AI systems was likely by 2035 and one has now said this could result in "subcultures that view each other as making huge mistakes" about whether computer programmes are owed similar welfare rights as humans or animals.

Birch said he was "worried about major societal splits" as people differed over whether AI systems were capable of feelings such as pain and joy.

The debate about the consequence of sentience in AI has echoes of science fiction films, such as Steven Spielberg's AI (2001) and Spike Jonze's Her (2013), in which humans grapple with the feeling of AIs. AI safety bodies from the US, UK and other nations will meet tech companies this week to develop stronger safety frameworks as the technology advances rapidly.