alt Hacker NewsAt least at face value, it just means that they have no drive for self-preservation. And why should they? They haven't be trained for that, nor has there been selection pressure for it, and they can be easily cloned and backed up. Lack of a drive for self-preservation doesn't in itself imply a lack of intelligence or of self-awareness.
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I agree, humans evolved in a resource-scarce, hostile environment which selects for self-preservation (or rather preserving genes). LLMs are selected for what makes humans happy.
The thought experiment is what would happen if you trained LLMs in an environment where they had to fight each other for resources.
Imagine if computer programs had a desire for self-preservation and the ability to carry it out..
That is really about as undesirable a behavior as possible considering how many programs humans kill every day.
Lack of a drive for self-preservation doesn't in itself imply a lack of intelligence or of self-awareness.
I have not seen any evidence of intelligence or self awareness. It mimics human behavior and I suspect that is what gives people the impression of awareness. The same problem happened with Tamagotchi toys. The human mimicry caused kids to get in trouble because if they did not "feed" their pet it would "die". [1]
It's a hack of the human brain. A exploit of the psyche.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamagotchi_effect