pengvado comments on Friendly AI ideas needed: how would you ban porn? - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 17 March 2014 06:00PM

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Comment author: Squark 26 March 2014 08:51:30PM *  -1 points [-]

I'm probably explaining myself poorly.

I'm suggesting that there should be a mathematical operator which takes a "digitized" representation of an agent, either in white-box form (e.g. uploaded human brain) or in black-box form (e.g. chatroom logs) and produces a utility function. There is nothing human-specific in the definition of the operator: it can as well be applied to e.g. another AI, an animal or an alien. It is the input we provide the operator that selects a human utility function.

Comment author: pengvado 27 March 2014 12:10:21AM *  0 points [-]

There are many such operators, and different ones give different answers when presented with the same agent. Only a human utility function distinguishes the right way of interpreting a human mind as having a utility function from all of the wrong ways of interpreting a human mind as having a utility function. So you need to get a bunch of Friendliness Theory right before you can bootstrap.

Comment author: Squark 27 March 2014 07:02:20PM 0 points [-]

Why do you think there are many such operators? Do you believe the concept of "utility function of an agent" is ill-defined (assuming the "agent" is actually an intelligent agent rather than e.g. a rock)? Do you think it is possible to interpret a paperclip maximizer as having a utility function other than maximizing paperclips?

Comment author: Stuart_Armstrong 31 March 2014 11:09:41AM 1 point [-]

Deducing the correct utility of a utility maximiser is one thing (which has a low level of uncertainty, higher if the agent is hiding stuff). Assigning a utility to an agent that doesn't have one is quite another.

See http://lesswrong.com/lw/6ha/the_blueminimizing_robot/ Key quote:

The robot is a behavior-executor, not a utility-maximizer.

Comment author: Squark 31 March 2014 11:58:18AM 0 points [-]

Replied in the other thread.