I am maybe considering it to be somewhat like a person, at least that it is as clever as one.
That neutral perspective is, I believe, a simple fact; without that utility function it would consider its goal to be rather arbitrary. As such, it's a perspective, or truth, that the AI can discover.
I agree totally with you that the wirings of the AI might be integrally connected with its utility function, so that it would be very difficult for it to think of anything such as this. Or it could have some other control system in place to reduce the possibility it would think like that.
But, stil, these control systems might fail. Especially if it would attain super-intelligence, what is to keep the control systems of the utility function always one step ahead of its critical faculty?
Why is it strange to think of an AI as being capable of having more than one perspective? I thought of this myself; I believe it would be strange if a really intelligent being couldn't think of it. Again, sure, some control system might keep it from thinking it, but that might not last in the long run.
Like, the way that you are talking about 'intelligence', and 'critical faculty' isn't how most people think about AI. If an AI is 'super intelligent', what we really mean is that it is extremely canny about doing what it is programmed to do. New top level goals won't just emerge, they would have to be programmed.
If you have a facility administrator program, and you make it very badly, it might destroy the human race to add their molecules to its facility, or capture and torture its overseer to get an A+ rating...but it will never decide to become a poe...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
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