// PC GAMER — GAMING
No, AI, you are not human: Microsoft's code of practice for artificial intelligence actually gives me some hope for the industry
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Believe it or not, I don't actually like to be all doom and gloom about new technologies like AI—it's just that's what the world keeps handing me. So I'll be damned if I don't take the time to report on something actually positive about it when I can, and I'm hesitantly optimistic that Microsoft's newly-published code of conduct for AI training and operation is one such opportunity.
The overall goal is the same as that which Microsoft has proclaimed before: "humanist superintelligence (HSI)." Now, though, it's expanded much more on what this means. Though the company notes the current code is a work in progress and is opening its doors for feedback.
In a summary list explaining the code of conduct, Microsoft lists ten guidelines:
All of this seems great to me, and there are some things that I'm especially happy to see. Specifically, point number two: "The idea of model welfare is wrong. AIs should not have rights or legal personhood."
This isn't armchair philosophy: there are actual people (potentially influential ones at that) out there arguing that AI should be ascribed moral rights and so on. This is dangerous because if we start ascribing rights to AI then we may put them on an even footing with us and potentially start thinking we have to do things for 'them' that are to our detriment. Such as keeping the whole AI industry afloat despite any negative effects to real people that are actually conscious.
Speaking of which, Microsoft also states that AI "is not conscious and should not be designed to imitate consciousness." Bingo. I couldn't agree more.
I have some hang-ups about 'humanism' as it is usually defined and practiced today, given that in addition to the baseline human-focused perspective it is also often situated alongside superfluous and misguided doctrines, such as in scientism. Here, though, Microsoft at least seems to be referring to humanism in the simple sense of ensuring that AI is designed to be human-first, putting human control, values, goals, and safety at the forefront.
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One potential cause of confusion that I noticed, however, concerns the focus on "plural values":