the claims that LaMDA makes about itself are no more accurate than those of an advanced language model that has no understanding of itself.
I think this is not a relevant standard, because it begs the same question about the “advanced language model” being used as a basis of comparison. Better at least to compare it to humans.
We can’t disprove the sentience any more than we can disprove the existence of a deity. But we can try to show that there is no evidence for its sentience.
In the same way that we can come to disbelieve in the existence of a deity (by trying to understand the world in the best way we can), I think see can make progress here. Sentience doesn’t live in a separate, inaccessible magisterium. (Not that I think you think/claim this! I’m just reacting to your literal words)
I think this is not a relevant standard, because it begs the same question about the “advanced language model” being used as a basis of comparison. Better at least to compare it to humans.
In the same way that we can come to disbelieve in the existence of a deity (by trying to understand the world in the best way we can), I think see can make progress here. Sentience doesn’t live in a separate, inaccessible magisterium. (Not that I think you think/claim this! I’m just reacting to your literal words)