Golems, auditors, and AI

This post is by Phil.Some time ago I wrote some thoughts about “Neuromancer” ( https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/06/12/what-does-neuromancer-have-to-teach-us-about-the-role-of-ai-is-society/ ), which features two kinds of artificial intelligence, one of which seems like it could be realized with a Large Language Model, i.e. we could pretty much make it today. The other is something more powerful, an artificial general intelligence that not only has computational power but also imagination and desires. I think it’s an open question whether an LLM can have genuine desires (and even a genuine imagination) as opposed to being able to pretend that it does. Also an open question whether that distinction even makes sense to talk about.I’ve read some other fiction within the past few months that has also given me things to think about, AI-wise. First there was Feet of Clay, by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett writes lightweight, fun, but generally forgettable fantasy novels. I mentioned…