Thinking Machines: AI & Philosophy

In 1950, Alan Turing asked, “Can machines think?” He suggested the Imitation Game as a test to evaluate whether a machine can think, more commonly called the “Turing Test.” Today we ask, is the Turing Test outdated? Joining Slingtalks this week are Kristian Freed & Guilherme Freire, founding engineers at Slingshot. Guilherme argues against the Turing Test, Kristian argues in favor.

Key topics they discuss include:
  • A recent paper claims that GPT-4 comes close to passing the Turing Test. Is the paper’s result valid? How close are we to passing the Turing Test?
  • Defining the Turing Test and understanding the various iterations on its original framing since 1950. Are there levels in passing the Turing Test?
  • Who is the Turing Test’s interrogator? And who is the human participant?
  • If AI could pass the Turing Test, would that necessarily mean that most remote employees would be redundant?
  • Is an AI’s ability to emulate human-like intelligence and deceive humans sufficient for intelligence? Is it necessary?
  • What are the moral and philosophical implications of AI passing the Turing Test? Is intelligence morally significant? Is consciousness relevant?
Share your thoughts with us at hello@slingshot.xyz or tweet us @slingshot_ai.

Creators & Guests

Host
Daniel Reid Cahn
Founder @ Slingshot - AI for all, not just Goliath

What is Thinking Machines: AI & Philosophy?

“Thinking Machines,” hosted by Daniel Reid Cahn, bridges the worlds of artificial intelligence and philosophy - aimed at technical audiences. Episodes explore how AI challenges our understanding of topics like consciousness, free will, and morality, featuring interviews with leading thinkers, AI leaders, founders, machine learning engineers, and philosophers. Daniel guides listeners through the complex landscape of artificial intelligence, questioning its impact on human knowledge, ethics, and the future.

We talk through the big questions that are bubbling through the AI community, covering topics like "Can AI be Creative?" and "Is the Turing Test outdated?", introduce new concepts to our vocabulary like "human washing," and only occasionally agree with each other.

Daniel is a machine learning engineer who misses his time as a philosopher at King's College London. Daniel is the cofounder and CEO of Slingshot AI, building the foundation model for psychology.