Don’t be afraid of AI – it doesn’t even know it exists

Fear of artificial intelligence is often based on a very simple misunderstanding: because a machine speaks like us, sometimes reasons like us and can give the impression of understanding us, we end up attributing an inner life to it. We imagine that behind the sentences lies a will, an intention, perhaps even a personality. Yet, to date, there is no evidence to suggest that current artificial intelligence systems possess any self-awareness. An AI can write ‘I think’, ‘I understand’, ‘I (…)