AI Ethics Outperform Human Judgment in New Moral Turing Test

AI’s ability to address moral questions is improving, prompting further considerations for the future. A recent study revealed that when individuals are given two solutions to a moral dilemma, the majority tend to prefer the answer provided by artificial intelligence (AI) over that given by another human.

The study, conducted by Eyal Aharoni, an associate professor in Georgia State’s Psychology Department, was inspired by the rise of ChatGPT and similar AI large language models (LLMs). Aharoni wanted to explore how these AI tools could contribute to moral decision-making, especially in legal contexts.

To test how AI handles issues of morality, Aharoni designed a form of a Turing test. In this test, undergraduate students and AI were asked the same ethical questions, and their written answers were presented to participants in the study for evaluation.

Surprisingly, the ChatGPT-generated responses were rated more highly than the human-generated ones. This finding has significant implications for the future of AI and its role in society. Aharoni believes that AI could technically pass a moral Turing test, fooling humans with its moral reasoning.

As people increasingly rely on AI technology for information and decision-making, understanding the ethical implications of AI’s capabilities becomes crucial. The study highlights the need for a deeper understanding of AI’s societal role and the potential risks associated with blindly trusting AI over human judgment.

Overall, the study sheds light on the evolving relationship between humans and AI, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in the development and deployment of AI technologies.