Undermining Mental Proof: How AI Can Make Cooperation Harder by Making Thinking Easier

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wojtowicz, Zachary, DeDeo, Simon
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Wojtowicz, Zachary
DeDeo, Simon
author_facet Wojtowicz, Zachary
DeDeo, Simon
contents Large language models and other highly capable AI systems ease the burdens of deciding what to say or do, but this very ease can undermine the effectiveness of our actions in social contexts. We explain this apparent tension by introducing the integrative theoretical concept of "mental proof," which occurs when observable actions are used to certify unobservable mental facts. From hiring to dating, mental proofs enable people to credibly communicate values, intentions, states of knowledge, and other private features of their minds to one another in low-trust environments where honesty cannot be easily enforced. Drawing on results from economics, theoretical biology, and computer science, we describe the core theoretical mechanisms that enable people to effect mental proofs. An analysis of these mechanisms clarifies when and how artificial intelligence can make low-trust cooperation harder despite making thinking easier.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_14452
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Undermining Mental Proof: How AI Can Make Cooperation Harder by Making Thinking Easier
Wojtowicz, Zachary
DeDeo, Simon
Computers and Society
Large language models and other highly capable AI systems ease the burdens of deciding what to say or do, but this very ease can undermine the effectiveness of our actions in social contexts. We explain this apparent tension by introducing the integrative theoretical concept of "mental proof," which occurs when observable actions are used to certify unobservable mental facts. From hiring to dating, mental proofs enable people to credibly communicate values, intentions, states of knowledge, and other private features of their minds to one another in low-trust environments where honesty cannot be easily enforced. Drawing on results from economics, theoretical biology, and computer science, we describe the core theoretical mechanisms that enable people to effect mental proofs. An analysis of these mechanisms clarifies when and how artificial intelligence can make low-trust cooperation harder despite making thinking easier.
title Undermining Mental Proof: How AI Can Make Cooperation Harder by Making Thinking Easier
topic Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.14452