Implications of Adaptive Artificial General Intelligence, for Legal Rights and Obligations
Peter Voss
page 5 of 7
This is not something that I have explored to a great degree, but I have a strong sense that inherently A.G.I.'s will make us more 
rational and moral because they will help us reason through the choices and decisions we make. Often just by thinking through the implications of something we want to do and seeing what the actual effect is likely to be, we become more moral and make better decisions. Ultimately, we all desire the long-term outcome of people being happy and living good lives. Yet many of the short-term decisions that people make, such as starting wars or smaller conflicts, have the opposite result.
How will they act towards us? As I said, they will understand the consequences of their actions and of our actions as well, because they will think them through better. They will also lack the primitive evolutionary survival instincts that are often detrimental to moral behavior.
Overall, the mind boggles as to the impact that A.G.I. will have on society. It is very hard for us to know just what the impact will be, but we know it will be enormous. It will change mankind and society in very, very profound ways. It will impact all areas of our life, including law, politics, and social justice.
I highly recommend the book, “The Truth Machine” by Jams Halperin, which explores a society where lying is not normal any more. The characters are telling the truth because of technology. The author does an excellent job of exploring how that would change society. That is just one possibility. Imagine if a whole number of tasks that people are currently doing can be taken over by A.G.I. and completed in a much better way. What might that lead to? Perhaps this will result in less material poverty and desperation.
I believe that A.G.I. will help us move up Maslow’s Hierarchy[1] so that more people will actually be able to think about how to optimize life rather than fighting for survival or reacting to their primitive instincts. It has been well demonstrated that as societies grow more affluent and their basic needs are met, they tend to become more benevolent.
As we use A.G.I., the one thing that becomes clear is that we will rely more and more on the advice of an A.G.I. If we have a wise oracle - our personal A.G.I. - that gives us advice and helps us think things through, that gathers information like a personal assistant but a friend and oracle as well, we will rely more and more on that person. And if it is really a personal assistant, the A.G.I. will know more and more about us, including our deepest secrets, because we will be able to discuss and bounce anything off it.
Of course, because the A.G.I. is so much smarter than we are in so many ways, it will become part of us, and we will rely more and more on its decisions. Then, very soon, we won’t be able to tell the difference between our decisions and its decisions because we will see them all as our own decisions. We will see it as part of us. We will also encompass the rationality of the A.G.I., and thus, I believe we will be better for that.
Footnote (back to top)
1. Abraham Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist. He is mostly noted today for his proposal of a hierarchy of human needs.