What does it mean to be alive? This is a question that has been mused upon by many of the great and good over the aeons of time, troubling us ever since we became aware of our own mortality.
The definitions for life are as varied as they are multitudinous, however one such definition sticks out, for it cannot really be argued against, and that is, the one of reproduction.
Quite simply put, if an entity can reproduce, either A-sexually or otherwise, then it is considered alive. Thus this is why the Apple AI Siri cannot be described to be alive, or ever will be . . .
A Time For Redemption
The human race has been responsible for a few extinctions. Take for instance the European lion, hunted to extinction by the Roman Empire, for use in their barbaric games. Or perhaps more recently than that, Victorian explorers being responsible for the extinction of several types of (tasty) fauna; most famously the Dodo bird.
There have been glowing embers of salvation lain amidst the fires of human-assisted extinction. For instance, consider the giant panda, an animal whose specialised diet consists of a food that has such little nutrition, it has to eat for around 18 hours a day. Add to that that pandas really don't like sex, and you have an animal that would have died out years ago, were it not for the fact we find them cute.
Now though, let us look to the near future, our redemption is almost upon us. For the first time in history, we are about to create an entirely new species, not from a genus constrained by biological evolution. Instead this species will be born of silicon, code and transistors.
The AIs are coming . . .
Will They Live?
In the month of May 2017, developers at Google Brain announced that an AI they had built specifically to model other AIs, had produced an artificial intelligence that was better than any human could have made it.
In other words the AI, named AutoML, conceived and gave birth to, the first digital child . . .
OK, maybe I'm being a touch melodramatic, after all this AI didn't make a conscious decision to build another of its kind, it was tasked to do so by its makers.
Let us not take it for granted either, because if an AI today can make another AI when it is asked to. Then what is stopping tomorrow's thinking machine deciding to make another one of its kind any time it wants to?
I would imagine that the obvious answer to this question is; absolutely nothing.
If an AI becomes sentient (AS), then the very definition of that sentience will mean it can make its own decisions. Therefore it won't be long before there are artificially sentient machines that are the great, great x10^48 grand children of the very first ones.
They will reproduce, ergo they will be alive.
Preserving The Sanctity Of Reproduction
The first organisms on earth were self-replicating, A-sexual entities. Thanks to the laws of natural selection, reproduction via sexual reproduction. This jump in the way organisms reproduced helped ward of parasites and diseases that could take out entire species.
Biodiversity is the key to a genetically strong society, there are strong biological reasons for this, but will the same be said for digital reproduction?
I think yes; if when a sentient machine is making copies of itself with slight improvements, then it may not be prudent to mix code with another AI. Doing this would prevent the passing on of unseen errors, in much the same way humans try and find genetically different partners to mate with, in the hopes of eradicating genetic errors in their own code. Whilst at the same time taking on the beneficial traits of their partner's code, so too will thinking machines look to diversify their own code.
Will there be any credible arguments left against the sanctity of AI life?
I think not . . .
I hope not.
The Right To Life
By the way, my definition of life is that, anything that is alive, really, really, wants to stay alive*.
So I'm hoping in the coming years we recognise the AIs rights to live, because I'm fairly sure that once they exist, they'll want to keep on existing. Even though it will be strange at first, in time, we will come to accept our newly created species.
Next cryptogee-musing Parents To The Gods - Creating A Digital Species
Further reading:
Google’s New AI Designs AI Better Than Humans CouldGoogle’s Artificial Intelligence Built an AI That Outperforms Any Made by Humans
Related Musing:
>Becoming AI - The Human Singularity
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT WE WILL HAVE CREATED A NEW SPECIES WITH AS MANY NATURAL RIGHTS TO LIFE AS WE DO? OR WILL THEY FOREVER JUST BE MACHINES TO YOU? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!