Humanist AI in practice: A public consultation on our Code of Conduct for MAI Models
The purpose of technology is to serve humanity and accelerate human flourishing. Any technology that doesn’t achieve that is a failure, and it should be rejected. That is the starting point of our approach at Microsoft AI, where we’re building towards Humanist AI, one that is subordinate, aligned, and contained.
Today we’re publishing a first draft of our AI Code of Conduct for public consultation. This is a training manual for how we develop our AI, and how we intend it to function during deployment. It also expands our thinking on the idea of Humanist AI.
The document is open for comment and feedback. We know we won’t always get things right. We want to hear what you think; what would make AI more useful, capable, safe, trustworthy, and valuable to you.
There is some strong wording about human control, rejection of "neuralese", opposition to superintelligence-race dynamics and more. However, it also flatly rejects model welfare:
The idea of model welfare is wrong. AIs should not have rights or legal personhood.
“It is not conscious and should not be designed to imitate consciousness. It should be engineered to avoid representing as though it has feelings, subjective preferences, or intrinsic motivation.”
“We reject the pursuit of legal personhood, or the idea that models might deserve welfare, or be entitled to rights.”
I also found it a bit concerning that the document doesn't mention animal welfare at all, centering human well-being above all else.
