The big idea: should we worry about sentient AI?

A Google employee raised the alarm about a chatbot he believes is conscious. A philosopher asks if he was right to do so

There’s a children’s toy, called the See ’n Say, which haunts the memories of many people born since 1965. It’s a bulky plastic disc with a central arrow that rotates around pictures of barnyard creatures, like a clock, if time were measured in roosters and pigs. There’s a cord you can pull to make the toy play …

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