LettersWith AI, humans must provide the purpose and moral compass
Readers discuss how generative AI works, and a new scheme for hiring native English-speaking teachers
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) works differently from human beings. Knowing how it works helps us use it well by specifying its role and purpose.
For example, a human painter at a wedding takes in the light, flowers, the conversations but their own memories add layers to the reality. Norms, customs and their patron’s preferences also shape what they end up painting.
Generative AI uses images and sounds from its enormous training data set. Although it lacks beliefs and a desire for money, its data may carry human values.
Whether generative AI can synthesise them to benefit humans is a key question. In the meantime, humans must provide the purpose and moral compass.
To use AI well, understand how it navigates. Think of words as objects in space. Consider “dog licks boy”. Each word is a point on a dimension. “Dog” is on the carnivore dimension. “Licks” is a touch. “Boy” is a human. These words form a path in three dimensions.