Logo image
242 AI and the Law: Can the Legal System Help Us Maximize Paperclips and Minimize Deaths?
Book chapter

242 AI and the Law: Can the Legal System Help Us Maximize Paperclips and Minimize Deaths?

Mihailis E. Diamantis, Rebekah Cochran and Miranda Dam
Technology Ethics, pp.242-249
Routledge, 1
2023
DOI: 10.4324/9781003189466-32

View Online

Abstract

Nick Bostrom, a Swedish philosopher, proposed a simple thought experiment involving a paperclip maximizer (the "PCM") (Bostrom 2003). What would happen if a machine were given the sole goal of manufacturing as many paperclips as possible? It might learn how to transact money, source metal, or even build factories. The machine might also eventually realize that humans pose a threat. Humans could turn the machine off at any point, and then it wouldn't be able to make as many paperclips! Taken to the logical extreme, the result is quite grim-the PCM might even start using humans as raw material for paperclips.1

Details

Metrics

58 Record Views
Logo image