The public launch of generative AI systems in 2022 has prompted considerable popular interest in their potential to transform work and to achieve the long-sought goal of machine intelligence. While the uncanny abilities of Large Language Models to produce fluent text on almost any subject lends these ideas some plausibility, they are based on debatable, if not erroneous, claims about the capabilities of generative AI. Although rarely presented in these terms, these claims may be seen to reflect a limited, substantive conception of the agency of AI systems. Alternative conceptualisations of agency from other disciplines are presented that may offer potentially more fruitful ways of thinking about agency in relation to AI. The way that conceptions of the agency of AI systems is shaped by the language used to describe their behaviour is highlighted and opportunities for alternative conceptions of agency to inform a more critical analysis of generative AI are identified.

中文翻译：

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当我和你交谈时，我得用词：对人工智能相关能动性观点的怀疑暂停


生成式 AI 系统于 2022 年公开推出，引起了公众对它们改变工作方式和实现机器智能长期目标的潜力的极大兴趣。虽然大型语言模型几乎可以就任何主题生成流畅文本的不可思议的能力使这些想法具有一定的合理性，但它们是基于关于生成式 AI 功能的有争议的（如果不是错误的）声明。尽管很少以这些术语提出，但这些主张可能被视为反映了对 AI 系统代理的有限、实质性的概念。提出了来自其他学科的代理的替代概念化，这些概念可能会为思考与 AI 相关的代理提供更有成效的思考方式。强调了用于描述人工智能系统行为的语言塑造人工智能系统能动性概念的方式，并确定了替代能动性概念为生成式人工智能提供更批判性分析的机会。