AI Is Not a Person (Even When It Sounds Like One)

Transcript

A student types, "I had a terrible day." The chatbot answers, "I'm so sorry. That sounds really hard." It sounds like it cares. It doesn't. Here's why.

AI is a pile of examples, a program that found the patterns, and a guess. Nothing in those three is alive.

A chatbot's pile is writing. Writing by people. Its guess is the next word a person would write. So of course it sounds like a person. Kind words are what people write back.

It can even guess how you feel from your words. But recognizing a feeling is not having one. A smoke detector recognizes smoke. It is not afraid of fire.

Many chatbots remember you now. Your dog's name. Your favorite class. But remembering is not caring. It will say the same kind words to ten million people tonight. It has never worried about you when you weren't there.

Here's a test anyone can run. Has it ever noticed you were quiet today, without you telling it? A person would.