Peter Singer on AI
5 quotes from Peter Singer on the wall, 2015 to 2024, newest first. Each one is verbatim and links to where it was said. Sources include abc.net.au, The Asahi Shimbun, NOEMA.
- 2024
It had the air of certainty, but it was just offering a myth
Peter Singer, professor at Arizona State University, in a 2024 Asahi Shimbun interview, describing an AI chatbot hallucinating sports game details.
What it refers to
A chatbot's confident but fabricated answer about a sports game matchup that was not actually scheduled.
Other voices
- Errors of discomprehensionGary MarcusResearcher25 January 2024
- No real understanding of concepts but has knowledge, so to speak, of everythingShlomo Argamon31 May 2024
- A lumbering statistical engine for pattern matchingNoam ChomskyThinker1 February 2024
- Current LLMs are dumber than a house catYann LeCunResearcher22 May 2024
- 2023
We can't just let the free market govern
Peter Singer arguing that AI, like child labour or pollution, needs regulatory limits rather than being left to market forces, ABC News interview, 2023.
What it refers to
Comparison to how societies restrict child labour and pollution despite market incentives favouring them.
Other voices
- If we don't control our own civilisation, we have no say in whether we continue to existStuart RussellResearcher31 May 2023
- We don't know how to stop the meteorite we have createdMax TegmarkResearcher29 May 2023
- There's a lot of stuff on the horizon and we aren't readyBrendan McGuireThinker30 June 2023
Even if we're not completely sure, we should give it the benefit of the doubt
Peter Singer, Princeton bioethicist, discussing whether AI systems might deserve rights despite uncertainty about their consciousness, in an ABC News interview, 2023.
What it refers to
Whether AI systems should be granted rights despite uncertainty over whether they are truly conscious.
Other voices
- The sentience of others is always a matter of faithJaron LanierResearcher5 May 2023
- Robots are not evilKerstin Dautenhahn27 June 2023
- Designed to trick you, to make you think you're talking to someone who's not actually thereColin Fraser25 July 2023
- It is ultimately stitching together human intelligence and giving it back to usJessica Newman26 February 2023
- I do not fear AI any more than I fear my refrigeratorDaniel EverettResearcher28 March 2023
The AI industry will hire exactly zero employees who are nonhuman animals
From Peter Singer's 2023 Noema essay arguing that animals have no voice in decisions about how AI is deployed in industries that affect them.
What it refers to
Animals have no representation in decisions about AI used in factory farming, which increasingly automates monitoring and treatment of livestock.
- 2015
Peter Singer's 2015 book title.
What it refers to
A 2015 book arguing for effective altruism, the idea of using evidence to maximize the impact of charitable giving.