As AI language skills grow, so do scientists' concerns

The tech industry's latest artificial intelligence constructs can be pretty convincing if you ask them what it feels like to be a sentient computer, or maybe just a dinosaur or squirrel. Take, for instance, GPT-3, a Microsoft-controlled system that can generate paragraphs of human-like text based on what it's learned from a vast database of digital books and online writings. It's considered one of the most advanced of a new generation of AI algorithms that can converse, generate readable text on demand and even produce novel images and video. Among other things, GPT-3 can write up most any text you ask for -- a cover letter for a zookeeping job, say, or a Shakespearean-style sonnet set on Mars. But when Pomona College professor Gary Smith asked it a simple but nonsensical question about walking upstairs, GPT-3 muffed it.