Teaching Empathy and Conscience to AI-Language Models: Inspired by the TV Series- Person of Interest

Shanto Roy
4 min readFeb 16, 2023

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Have you watched the famous TV series “Person of Interest”?

The action plus sci-fi TV series explored the idea that artificial intelligence can develop empathy and a sense of conscience through interactions with individuals (In the series, Harold Finch) who nurture their moral code. This highlights the importance of teaching ethical values to language models like chatGPT and the potential benefits of using a more personalized approach to training these models.

AI language models have made significant advancements in recent years. However, there are still important issues to be addressed, including how to teach empathy and a sense of conscience to these models, even though models like chatGPT already filter violent or malicious words or tasks.

Let’s discuss some issues and solutions!!!

The Risk of Bias

Language models can be biased if numerous people teach incorrect information. This is a significant concern regarding teaching empathy and conscience to these models.

To ensure that the information used to teach these language models is unbiased and accurate, it is essential to conduct extensive research and analysis to determine the accuracy of the data used.

Developers can use data cleansing and data augmentation techniques to eliminate bias and improve the accuracy of the information used to train these models. These techniques can help remove preferences that may be present in the data used to teach language models, ultimately leading to more accurate and unbiased models.

Also, it is necessary to identify trustworthy sources of data. If an AI chatbot is learning, it means they are like children but with access to a lot of data. Now, which data is used in the corpus is highly important. And there is feedback-based learning from people. In that case, it is necessary to set boundaries regarding what information to learn or from whom.

Learning Environment

Efficient interactions with a low number of people in a controlled environment can be crucial in teaching empathy and a sense of conscience to AI language models. This approach allows for more personalized interactions between the model and individuals, leading to a better understanding of human behavior and decision-making.

In a controlled environment, developers can ensure that the information used to train language models is high quality and accurate. This is crucial in developing accurate and unbiased models to make ethical decisions and behave responsibly.

Moreover, a controlled environment can help limit the introduction of incorrect or biased information and reduce the risk of inaccurate data leading to flawed decisions that might be taken by the language model.

AI Governance

AI governance is another critical issue when teaching AI language models empathy and a sense of conscience. AI governance includes transparency, accountability, and responsibility in developing and using these models. To ensure that language models are developed and used responsibly and ethically, it is essential to establish a clear ethical framework for their development and use.

Developers should also follow best practices and guidelines set by regulatory authorities and ensure that the data used to train these models is accurate, unbiased, and conforms to ethical standards.

There must be transparency in how these models make decisions. Users should know how their data is used and how the models make decisions.

Future Directions

To ensure that these models are developed and used responsibly and ethically, it is essential to establish clear ethical frameworks and guidelines for their development and use.

One future direction for AI governance is the development of regulatory bodies and standards that govern the development and use of AI language models. These bodies would ensure that these models are developed and used responsibly and ethically, holding developers and users accountable for their actions.

Another direction is the use of explainable AI (XAI), which aims to make AI more transparent and understandable. XAI techniques can help users understand how these models make decisions, which can help ensure that these models are used reliably.

Concluding Remarks

In the TV series, the protagonist (Character: Harold Finch) develops a unique relationship with his AI system, the Machine, which allows the AI to learn and create a sense of empathy and morality. In contrast, there was a bad guy who taught another AI in a non-responsible way. This idea underscores the importance of designing language models that can learn from human behavior and incorporate ethical values into their decision-making.

Teaching AI language models empathy and a sense of conscience is crucial for their ethical development and use. Developers must consider issues such as bias, controlled environments, AI governance, and the importance of community involvement in data collection and annotation.

By taking a responsible and ethical approach to developing these models, we can ensure that they are used for the benefit of society and are aligned with our moral values.

That’s all for today! Cheers!!!

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Shanto Roy

I write about Cyber Security, Python, DevOps/SRE, Research, AI, and travel. 💻 Tech blog👉 shantoroy.com ✈️ Travel Blog👉 digitalnomadgoals.com