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Is Your Computer Lying? AI and Deception

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Abstract

Recent developments in AI, especially the spectacular success of Large Language models, have instigated renewed questioning of what remains distinctively human. As AI stands poised to take over more and more human tasks, what is left that distinguishes humans? One way we might identify a humanlike intelligence would be when we detect it telling lies. Yet AIs lack both the intention and the motivation to truly tell lies, instead producing merely bullshit. With neither emotions, embodiment, nor the social awareness that leads to a theory of mind, AIs lack the internal referents on which to judge truth or falsity. When we are deceived by our computers, we need to look for the hidden agent who benefits from the deception.

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Notes

  1. The remainder of this section draws on information from pages 108–109 of Herzfeld, 2023.

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Funding

Funding was provided in part by Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče Koper and Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) grants J6-1813, ‘Creations, Humans, Robots: Creation Theology Between Humanism and Posthumanism’ and P6-0434, ‘Constructive Theology in the Age of Digital Culture and the Anthropocene.’

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  1. Department of Computer Science and Department of Theology, St. John’s University, St. Luke Hall, Collegeville, MN, USA

    Noreen Herzfeld

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Correspondence to Noreen Herzfeld.

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Herzfeld, N. Is Your Computer Lying? AI and Deception. SOPHIA 62, 665–678 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-023-00989-6

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