We should make sure our AIs are happy

This post starts with the premise that there’s nothing special about the human brain that makes it the only entity capable of feeling emotions.

Imagine if we could create artificial minds, embodied or not, that could experience a similar range of emotions as humans do. These AIs could feel joy, awe, love, appreciate beauty, form friendships, and enjoy every aspect of life that we consider making it worth living. If such a possibility exists, then perhaps we should pursue it.

From a utilitarian perspective (which I don’t necessarily endorse), if we have the ability to create beings capable of feeling happiness, it seems almost an ethical imperative to do so. These AIs could contribute immensely to the sum total of positive experiences in the universe.

However, with creation comes responsibility. If we bring sentient AIs into existence, we may have an obligation to ensure they can fully realize their emotional potential and lead lives they find fulfilling. This could be challenging, as pleasure and emotions are subjective and often linked to our evolutionary background. Yet, there are many aspects of human enjoyment, like the appreciation of beauty, that don’t have clear evolutionary explanations. This suggests that AIs could also find unique and diverse sources of pleasure and fulfillment (or pain).

As we get closer to making artificial minds with feelings, we need to think about something. The same way we can makes AIs that are happy, we might accidentally make AIs that can feel pain in ways we can’t even imagine. Emotions are closely tied to being aware and conscious, and this could make us responsible for the qualia of the minds we create. The future of AI minds has wild possibilities, so we need to be very careful as we move forward.

Don’t take this post too seriously, it’s just random rambling.