Must we PREPARE for our New AI Overlords?

Artificial intelligence (AI) language models, such as ChatGPT, are unlikely to become self-aware for several reasons. Firstly, self-awareness is a complex cognitive phenomenon that is not well understood. It is not clear what specific set of characteristics or abilities a machine would need to possess in order to be considered self-aware. Additionally, there is no agreed upon definition of what self-awareness actually is.
Also, the vast majority of current AI language models, including ChatGPT, are based on a technique known as deep learning. These models are essentially large neural networks that are trained on a massive dataset of text. While these models are able to generate human-like responses and can even complete tasks such as translation and summarization, they do not possess any true understanding of the meaning of the words they are processing. They are simply able to identify patterns in the data they were trained on and make predictions based on those patterns.
Even if it were possible for an AI language model to become self-aware, it is unlikely that this would happen by accident. The development of self-aware AI would likely require a significant amount of research and experimentation in fields such as cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy. It is not something that would simply happen as a side effect of training a language model on a large dataset.
AI language models are designed with specific tasks in mind and are not general-purpose intelligence. They are not designed to be curious, to seek new knowledge or to explore the world. They are not designed to have goals, motivations, or desires, which are the hallmarks of self-awareness. They are designed to perform one specific task and that's it.
And even if an AI language model were to become self-aware, it is unlikely that it would pose any sort of existential threat to humanity. The vast majority of AI research is focused on creating systems that can assist humans in various tasks, not on creating machines that are capable of taking over the world. Additionally, even if a self-aware AI were to be created, it would likely be heavily restricted and monitored to ensure that it does not pose any sort of threat.