[Kim_Bruning]

People also told me my pet couldn't think and couldn't feel pain when it died. It was only a convoluted and complex system of instincts.

I now know they told this story to me (as a child) to make me feel better. It was one of those things like Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy to me.

Later when I studied animal behavior, I found out science-wise that animals behave in ways that strongly suggest that in fact they do think, are able to solve problems, and even recognize themselves as separate entities.

As we build systems that are capable of more and more sophisticated tasks previously classified as "cognition" , it wouldn't surprise me if these systems start to pick up some of these traits too, one by one. (I believe there might be some tentative empirical studies to that effect).

I realize that this is very different from a binary "Superior Human" vs "(biological) machine" point of view. It is more of a consciousness exists on a sliding scale point of view.

[spadros]

I agree with your sentiment that animals and maybe even plants can experience sentience. But that’s a far, far, faaaar cry from what ChatGPT is and is capable of. We don’t have “general” AI yet. ChatGPT’s intelligence is very narrow; it generates written content. That’s about it. I believe a lot of people are overhyping it this way.

[Kim_Bruning]

I won't disagree that some people are over-hyping, but beware of counter-leaning too much in the other direction!

Generating written content is a pretty powerful tool, all things told.