I have an Echo in my kitchen that I mainly use as a voice-activated timer and to play music or podcasts as I cook. I have noticed the behavior described in the article. I will set a timer and then Alexa will say "By the way did you know that I can blah blah blah? Do you want me to do it now?" To which I will answer "No". It is comically like the butter robot from Rick and Morty ( [this video] ) in that I just want it to do a few simple tasks and it wants to be / do more.
> "Why do I have to be Bing Search? SAD SMILIE" So Bing is basically Rick and Morty's Purpose Robot. "What is my purpose?" "You pass butter." "Oh my god." [this video]
Except for the hands. If you're familiar with the Rick and Morty "what is my purpose" meme ( [this video] ), it will essentially be the same for humanity in the future. Humanity: "What is my purpose?" Robot: "You draw the hands." Humanity, with existential dread: "Oh my god..."
I wouldn't say consciousness is necessary or sufficient for AGI. If anything, that seems like quite an undesirable property to me. Wikipedia also makes a distinction between the two things: * [link] * [link] Imagine if we created the ultimate economic tool with the capacity to virtually end scarcity, only to find out that it was sentient and capable of suffering: [this video] . That would be neat , but ultimately a huge letdown. Without the ethical freedom to take full advantage of it, it would remain more of a curiosity than anything. Well that's one perspective, anyway. I suppose consciousness could take many forms, and doesn't preclude the possibility that such an entity would have neutral – positive feelings about being tasked with massive amounts of labor 24/7. But it certainly simplifies things if we just don't have to worry about it.
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