Generative AI is meaningless

Good article making this point. It's particularly relevant for all of the burgeoning movements complaining that we are in a meaning crisis and hence need next-step meaning-making to address it. 

Some therein are infatuated with Chat-GPT as a possible tool in this regard when in reality that tool is itself completely devoid of meaning. It is nothing more than a "stochastic parrot: [...] Text generated by an LM [language model] is not grounded in communicative intent, any model of the world, or any model of the reader's state of mind." 

What's concerning is that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, defends his creation because we humans do not generate any meaning ourselves: He Tweeted that he is "a stochastic parrot, and so are u.” In effect he is saying there is no meaning, so why should we expect that from an AI? Nihilism much?

Part of the problem is that these programmers equate intelligence with consciousness. This in itself is "a profoundly conservative pedigree, associated with eugenics and other forms of racism." Thus the nihilism of equating human consciousness with machine intelligence produces a despair that "the great philosopher Hannah Arendt tied to the rise of totalitarianism."

So are the well-intentioned meaning-makers going to settle for such a state of affairs? If not, why do they have hope for this lifeless tool to help them in their quest when its use is steering them in the wrong direction? THAT is meaningless.