ABSTRACT

Artificial agents are commonly described by using words that traditionally belong to the semantic field of life. I call this phenomenon the game of semantic extension. However, the semantic extension of words as crucial as ‘autonomous’, ‘intelligent’, ‘creative’, ‘moral’, and so on, is often perceived as unsatisfactory, which is signalled with the extensive use of inverted commas or other syntactical cues. Such practice, in turn, has provoked harsh criticism that usually refers back to the literal meaning of the words to show their inappropriateness in describing artificial agents. Hence the question: how can we choose our words appropriately and wisely while making sense of artificial agents? This paper tries to answer by sketching the main features of the game of semantic extension in relation to artificial agency, reviewing the related opportunities and risks, and advancing some practical suggestions on how to play the game well.

摘要

人工代理通常使用传统上属于生活语义领域的词来描述。我称这种现象为语义扩展的游戏。然而，像“自主”、“智能”、“创造性”、“道德”等至关重要的词的语义扩展常常被认为是不令人满意的，这表明大量使用倒逗号或其他句法线索. 反过来，这种做法引起了严厉的批评，这些批评通常会引用词语的字面意思，以表明它们在描述人工代理时是不恰当的。因此，问题是：我们如何在理解人工代理的同时适当而明智地选择我们的用词？本文试图通过勾勒与人工代理相关的语义扩展博弈的主要特征来回答，