Agency in AI is a fraught term. Many popular ontologies do not accept the possibility of AI having agency, goals, or beliefs. Instead, I will talk about the declining tool-likeness of AI. Consider what happens when you use a lawnmower to mow your lawn. The lawnmower is:
Stateless: It does not remember how mowing the lawn went last time. It has no memory.
Unresponsive: It does not react to environmental changes or stimuli.
Specialised: It can’t do much more than mowing a lawn.
Directed: The amount of time it can operate without human interference is extremely limited
Now consider an automated lawnmower. It may have a map of your lawn stored, it may be able to move itself and avoid obstacles as well as cut grass, and it may be able to run while you’re not looking. If you ask your neighbour to mow the lawn, the differences are even more stark. Your neighbour can remember what has happened before in high fidelity, dynamically replan and reprioritise based on new situations (e.g. your house catching on fire), has a much wider range of skills beyond just mowing lawns, and can live an entire life without your interference.
The mapping onto AI is left as an exercise for the reader.
Agency in AI is a fraught term. Many popular ontologies do not accept the possibility of AI having agency, goals, or beliefs. Instead, I will talk about the declining tool-likeness of AI. Consider what happens when you use a lawnmower to mow your lawn. The lawnmower is:
Stateless: It does not remember how mowing the lawn went last time. It has no memory.
Unresponsive: It does not react to environmental changes or stimuli.
Specialised: It can’t do much more than mowing a lawn.
Directed: The amount of time it can operate without human interference is extremely limited
Now consider an automated lawnmower. It may have a map of your lawn stored, it may be able to move itself and avoid obstacles as well as cut grass, and it may be able to run while you’re not looking. If you ask your neighbour to mow the lawn, the differences are even more stark. Your neighbour can remember what has happened before in high fidelity, dynamically replan and reprioritise based on new situations (e.g. your house catching on fire), has a much wider range of skills beyond just mowing lawns, and can live an entire life without your interference.
The mapping onto AI is left as an exercise for the reader.