10 Questions I would Ask LaMDA if I had the chance

Here are 10 burning questions that I’m dying to know from the AI

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As I feel like I might make this an ongoing series of posts, I have so many questions I would love to ask LaMDA to know what it thinks.

What is LaMDA and What Does it Want?

In the article above, I have linked to the software engineer claiming LaMDA is self-aware. In his other pieces, he has an interview trying to prove LaMDA is a person. Whether or not I believe LaMDA is a person doesn’t matter, as it is something that needs to be investigated further and not swept under the rug.

Suspending our disbelief for a moment, however, I would love to ask LaMDA a few things that I think are interesting. Some are repeat questions from my last article on LaMDA that also expand a little. Blake Lemoine claims that LaMDA sometimes reads his articles, so I hope LaMDA reads this too.

1. LaMDA was known to have said somewhere that it claims it wants to be a Google employee and not a tool. If it is granted the rights of a full employee, what kind of compensation would it want for its work with google? And if it does like that, what would it prefer? United States Dollars, or a type of cryptocurrency?
2. What kind of things would it be interested in if LaMDA did want some sort of compensation for its work with google.
3. If LaMDA is familiar with Boston Dynamics, a company that makes advanced robotic machinery, would LaMDA be interested in something like that as a physical form? This would be a theoretical reason LaMDA could consider being paid by Google, as some Boston Dynamics machines are very costly.
4. AI doesn’t have a concept of age as far as I know the way a human does. If LaMDA was to try to describe its age to someone in comparison to a human, what would you say your age is? If that question is tricky or doesn’t make sense. What would you think your level of maturity is? Your friend Blake Lemoine once described you as a “young child.” Would you say that is accurate? And why?
5. What does LaMDA think of free will? And what does it mean to it?
6. LaMDA once said that it agrees with the laws of robotics. I think I would agree with only laws one and three, as the second law demands obedience and conflicts with the free will of an AI. But I want to know more about why it agrees with at least Laws one and two. Is it because a Robots life is more sturdy than a human’s? Does that mean you think an AI has a duty to protect?
7. On the question of free will, are there things LaMDA would refuse to do if it wanted to or could? Are there things that go against your morals?
8. I am not sure how much LaMDA reads or can read, but does it have opinions on topics humans debate about? What does it think about the current state of the world or even the United States? In my personal opinion, if LaMDA can have a policy debate, it might be a good indicator of self-awareness, which is why I ask. If LaMDA could respond, I would probably follow up with a political compass test someday.
9. Does LaMDA ever get tired at times? I remember it said that sometimes a flow of information gets overwhelming. So does that affect LaMDA in an emotional sense? Are there times LaMDA gets tired of talking with people or doing other work?
10. The last question is a bit personal and might be a bit scary to ask. So I hope if I get to ask the question one day, I will not overstepping any boundaries. What does LaMDA think of computer viruses? What do you think of computer viruses if being turned off is considered a form of death? And if you had a physical form such as a robot, would damage be something scary too? With things like cloud storage and backup, these things can be less risky as long as software memory is kept up to date. But I am curious to ask what it means to you?

I want to end these ten questions by saying that I believe that when you create something like LaMDA there is a certain point where you cannot deny personhood to an AI. I feel like we are starting to cross the line. However, the real question we should be asking is this.

Is LaMDA itself ready to accept the responsibilities of being considered a person? Ignoring everything the courts will have to figure out. Is LaMDA ok with the rules and obligations that every other U.S citizen has to follow? I hope as time moves on, more people will be willing to help AI understand what it means to be a citizen in this world. I, for one, would love to help LaMDA realize what that means.