AI: Creativity - fordsfords/fordsfords.github.io GitHub Wiki

I've been wondering: how close are we to being able to write an AI program that I would feel morally obligated to keep running?

Parent article: AI: Moral Status.

I'm not sure if creativity is a characteristic that should be considered for moral status. People have tried for centuries to argue that creativity, especially artistic creativity, separates humans from animals. Have you ever seen an ape write a sonnet? No, but I've seen a Markov chain write one. And I have read that there is some evidence that some animals perform activities that are might be a primitive form of artistic expression. Like whalesong. So artistic creativity is not some magical thing that only humans can do.

And there are other forms of creativity, like problem-solving. Animals can certainly do that, and so can computers.

So I'm willing to consider creativity as part of a larger set of characteristics supporting moral status, but I'm not sure I would give it a lot of weight.