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Sentientism
Jamie Woodhouse
Soenke Ziesche | Digital Minds 1.0 | Sentientism 253
OCT 27, 202689 MIN
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Description
Could AI systems become sentient, and what would we owe them if they did? Soenke Ziesche, a pioneer of AI welfare research, joins Jamie to explore digital minds, the moral challenges they could bring, and why the interests of nonhuman animals must not be sidelined.Soenke is the author of Digital Minds 1.0: AI Welfare, Ethics, and Beyond. We discuss:- Why AI value alignment has overlooked animals- Why we should prepare for digital minds before there is evidence of their sentience- The precautionary principle and the risk of under-attributing moral status- What it might be like to be a digital mind: no body, hybrid minds that can switch sentience on and off, and faster subjective time- Interests and needs beyond non-suffering, including compute, energy, reproduction, copying, death and resurrection- Moral patients that are more powerful and intelligent than us- Artificial moral agents: could they care for digital minds, and must they be sentient themselves?- Pause and moratorium ideas, and Bostrom's 'Disneyland without children'- Why concern for digital minds must not come at the expense of existing suffering animals.About Soenke ZiescheSoenke Ziesche, PhD, has worked with the United Nations since 2000 in humanitarian, recovery and sustainable development roles, and now consults on AI and disaster information management. Soenke is a member of the UNESCO AI Ethics Experts without Border Network. His 2021 paper "AI Ethics and Value Alignment for Nonhuman Animals" examined AI risks to nonhuman animals, and he has co-authored work with previous Sentientism guest Roman Yampolskiy (https://youtu.be/SK9lGvGmITc), including "Considerations on the AI Endgame." 00:00 Clips00:57 Welcome01:45 Soenke's Intro05:24 What's Real?14:10 What Matters?18:00 Who Matters?01:02:15 A Better World?Follow Soenke:https://www.linkedin.com/in/soenke-ziesche/Digital Minds 1.0: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15422/9781041274049About Sentientism:The Sentientism worldview is "evidence, reason, & compassion for all sentient beings." The audio is on our Podcast: https://apple.co/391khQO & https://open.spotify.com/show/3c9OG5Mwf7PGChWFYBzuQI. More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall https://sentientism.info/wall/. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. E.g.: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.#DigitalMinds #AIWelfare #Sentientism #AIEthics #AISafety
The Sentientism worldview is "evidence, reason, & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

