This post is a draft on which I am currently eliciting feedback. Changes may be made in the future.
Artificial Intelligence that can produce language is improving in leaps and bounds (cf. the recent GPT-3 as reported on, e.g., in The Economist). However, it is still early enough to think seriously about how we should guide the development of language AI in order to maintain influence over the large-scale, long-term effects of automatic language generation. Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics have inspired AI research towards conscious design choices during the early stages of new AI technologies. Parallel to these laws, this post proposes Three Laws of Robotic Language. We understand robotic language as language (written, spoken, or signed) that was generated partially or entirely by an automatic system. Because such a system can be seen as a machine engaging in a conventionally human activity, we refer to it as a language robot. These laws are intended to support researchers developing AI for natural language generation. The laws are formulated to help lay a solid foundation for what is to come by inspiring careful reflection about what we need to get right from the beginning, and the mistakes we need to avoid.
Artificial Intelligence that can produce language is improving in leaps and bounds (cf. the recent GPT-3 as reported on, e.g., in The Economist). However, it is still early enough to think seriously about how we should guide the development of language AI in order to maintain influence over the large-scale, long-term effects of automatic language generation. Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics have inspired AI research towards conscious design choices during the early stages of new AI technologies. Parallel to these laws, this post proposes Three Laws of Robotic Language. We understand robotic language as language (written, spoken, or signed) that was generated partially or entirely by an automatic system. Because such a system can be seen as a machine engaging in a conventionally human activity, we refer to it as a language robot. These laws are intended to support researchers developing AI for natural language generation. The laws are formulated to help lay a solid foundation for what is to come by inspiring careful reflection about what we need to get right from the beginning, and the mistakes we need to avoid.
The Three Laws of Robotic Language
Second Law: A language robot’s identity must be easy to verify.
Third Law: A language robot’s identity must be difficult to counterfeit.
Third Law: A language robot’s identity must be difficult to counterfeit.
Practical benefits
Adopting these Three Laws would support desirable practical properties of robotic language as its use becomes more widespread:
- People (readers, consumers) will be able to identify content as robotic language (as opposed to language produced by other people) without relying on sophisticated technology.
- People will be able to confirm the source of the content without relying on sophisticated technology.
- Entities (organizations, companies) that generate high-quality, reliable robotic language can be sure that consumers can recognize and trust their content.
- Entities that generate robotic language can more easily ensure that they don’t unwittingly train their language generation systems on previously generated robotic language.
Like the Three Laws of Robotics, these laws depend on adoption by the people and organizations that develop and control technology. For many, the practical properties delivered by the laws will be convincing enough. For others, it will be important to understand the link between these laws and the nature of human language, which is explained next.
Moving robotic language towards human language
Currently, the success of robotic language is judged by its ability to fool a reader into mistaking it for language generated by a human. This criterion seems sensible for judging individual sentences, paragraphs or documents. Adopting this criterion implies that we, effectively, regard human language as the generation and exchange of sequences of words and that we consider the aim of language robots to be approximating these sequences. However, if we look at the larger picture of how people actually use language, we see that language goes beyond word sequences. What interests us here is how language conveys the connection between the creator (i.e., who is speaking or writing) and the language content that they create (i.e., what is spoken or written). The Three Laws of Robotic Languages state that when language robots generate language content, information about the creator must be inextricable from that content. Adding the criterion of creator-content inextricability should not be considered a nice-to-have functionality that can optionally be added to language robots at some future point. Rather, this feature must be planned from the beginning, before language robots establish themselves as a major source of the language content that we consume.
For some, the idea that the connection between creator and content is an important part of language is surprising. It is not, however, radically new, but rather an observation, perhaps so obvious that it is easily overlooked. Think about speaking to a baby or an animal: they react to the you-ness of your voice, although they might not understand your words. Our voices identify us as individuals. On top of that, when we hear a voice we may not recognize the specific person speaking, but we still hear something about them. Speech is produced by the human body, and is given its form by our mouths and nasal cavities. Our voices identify something about us, e.g., how big we might be. The Three Laws of Robotic Language are, at their root, a proposal to give language robots a “sound of voice” that would carry information about the origin of the language content that they produce. Language robots must identify themselves, or at least reveal enough about themselves so that it is clear (without the need for sophisticated technology) that they are robots.
In order to better grasp why the inextricability of creator from content is a fundamental characteristic of human language, it helps to look back in time. Throughout most of the history of language, speech could not exist independently of a speaker (and sign language could not exist independently of a signer). It was impossible to decouple the words and the source of the words. It is only with the rise of written language that we have the option of breaking the content-creator association, allowing language content to float free of the person who produced it. Most recently, speech synthesis or sign synthesis can also disassociate the speaker from what is spoken. This possibility of content-without-creator now feels so natural to us that it is hard to imagine that it was not originally a property of human language. However, the age of speech-only language was tens of thousands of years (possibly more) longer than the current era of written language. It may seem strange from the perspective of today, but the original state of human language is one of inextricability: speech could not exist without a speaker.
In order to better grasp why the inextricability of creator from content is a fundamental characteristic of human language, it helps to look back in time. Throughout most of the history of language, speech could not exist independently of a speaker (and sign language could not exist independently of a signer). It was impossible to decouple the words and the source of the words. It is only with the rise of written language that we have the option of breaking the content-creator association, allowing language content to float free of the person who produced it. Most recently, speech synthesis or sign synthesis can also disassociate the speaker from what is spoken. This possibility of content-without-creator now feels so natural to us that it is hard to imagine that it was not originally a property of human language. However, the age of speech-only language was tens of thousands of years (possibly more) longer than the current era of written language. It may seem strange from the perspective of today, but the original state of human language is one of inextricability: speech could not exist without a speaker.
In short, we know that language works well with inextricability: that’s the way in which human language was originally developed and used. For this reason, the Three Laws of Robotic Language should not be considered an unnatural imposition, but rather a gentle requirement that language robots behave in a way that is closer to the original state of language.
An important design choice
It is important to note that when humans use language they creatively manipulate the connection between who is creating and what is created. We imitate others’ voices. We quote other people. We love the places where we can yell and hear our voices echoed back. Once written language introduced the possibility of extricating the creator from language content, we started to take advantage of the option of hiding our identities: we use pen names and we write anonymous messages. The Three Laws of Robotic Languages constrain the ability of language robots to engage in these kinds of activities. For example, the laws prevent them from generating anonymous content or producing imitations that are impossible to detect.
At first consideration, it seems that the Three Laws of Robotic Language represent an unnecessary hindrance or constraint. However, human language is characterized by strong constraints. On further thought, it becomes clear that language robots need to be subject to some form of constraint if they are to interact productively with naturally constrained humans over the long run in large-scale information spaces.
The constraints on human language are human mortality and limited physical strength. When we focus on a small, local scale, thinking about individual texts and short periods of time, we risk overlooking these constraints. However, they are there and their effect is important.
First, think about human mortality: A given person can produce and consume only so many words in their lifetime. Our deaths represent a hard limit, and force us to choose, over the course of our existence, what we say and what we don’t say, what we listen to and read, and what we don’t. A language robot needs shockingly little time to generate the same amount of language content that a human would produce (or could consume) in a lifetime.
Second, think about human physical strength. Language is the means by which humans as a species have pooled their physical strength. Language allows us to engage in coordinate action towards a common goal. We use language to convince other people to adopt our opinions or follow our plans. The power of our language to convince is limited by our physical ability to act consistently with our opinions or to contribute to carrying out our plans. People speaking empty words put themselves at risk of ostracization or physical harm. A language robot can generate language that is finely tuned to be convincing, and is unconstrained by the need to follow up words with action. Language robots risk nothing.
Considering again Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, human mortality and limited physical strength is what makes the laws necessary in the face of robots with superior strength and stamina. The laws level the playing field, so to say. The Three Laws of Robotic Language serve a similar function. They do not protect humans as directly as Asimov’s laws. However, they make the actions of language robots traceable, which provides a lever that allows humans to maintain influence on the large-scale, long-term impact of robotic language on our information sphere.
At this point, we don't know enough to predict this influence exactly. What is clear, however, is that we need some kind of constraint. It is also clear, as argued above, that the Three Laws of Robotic Language are consistent with a functioning form of human language, which is actually its original form. Further, we know that the laws have some already-obvious advantages. Recall from above the desirable practical properties: inextricability delivers convenience i.e., following the Three Laws of Robotic Language will prevent AI researchers from inadvertently training language robots on automatically generated text, causing feedback loops (resulting, possibly, in systems drifting away from human interpretable syntax and semantics). Further, as we struggle to gain control of malicious bots and disinformation online, it would be helpful if the language robots with honorable intent would declare themselves. Inextricablity would make it easier to build a case against ill-intentioned actors.
First, think about human mortality: A given person can produce and consume only so many words in their lifetime. Our deaths represent a hard limit, and force us to choose, over the course of our existence, what we say and what we don’t say, what we listen to and read, and what we don’t. A language robot needs shockingly little time to generate the same amount of language content that a human would produce (or could consume) in a lifetime.
Second, think about human physical strength. Language is the means by which humans as a species have pooled their physical strength. Language allows us to engage in coordinate action towards a common goal. We use language to convince other people to adopt our opinions or follow our plans. The power of our language to convince is limited by our physical ability to act consistently with our opinions or to contribute to carrying out our plans. People speaking empty words put themselves at risk of ostracization or physical harm. A language robot can generate language that is finely tuned to be convincing, and is unconstrained by the need to follow up words with action. Language robots risk nothing.
Considering again Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, human mortality and limited physical strength is what makes the laws necessary in the face of robots with superior strength and stamina. The laws level the playing field, so to say. The Three Laws of Robotic Language serve a similar function. They do not protect humans as directly as Asimov’s laws. However, they make the actions of language robots traceable, which provides a lever that allows humans to maintain influence on the large-scale, long-term impact of robotic language on our information sphere.
At this point, we don't know enough to predict this influence exactly. What is clear, however, is that we need some kind of constraint. It is also clear, as argued above, that the Three Laws of Robotic Language are consistent with a functioning form of human language, which is actually its original form. Further, we know that the laws have some already-obvious advantages. Recall from above the desirable practical properties: inextricability delivers convenience i.e., following the Three Laws of Robotic Language will prevent AI researchers from inadvertently training language robots on automatically generated text, causing feedback loops (resulting, possibly, in systems drifting away from human interpretable syntax and semantics). Further, as we struggle to gain control of malicious bots and disinformation online, it would be helpful if the language robots with honorable intent would declare themselves. Inextricablity would make it easier to build a case against ill-intentioned actors.
The Three Laws of Robotic Language are not a silver-bullet solution, but rather a well-informed design choice. Currently, AI researchers have defaulted to the extricability of creator from content. The Three Laws will already be a success if they inspire AI researchers to pause and consider whether inextricablity, rather than extricability should be considered the
default choice for systems that automatically generate natural language (text,
speech and sign).
An example
Let’s consider a language robot that generates text sentences. We will call this language robot DP-bot, because it declares its identity by upholding the double prime (DP) rule with every sentence that it produces. The language robot can generate the sentence:
We adore language.
The double prime rule states that a prime number of letters must occur a prime number of times in a sentence. The rule is upheld by this sentence since ‘e’,’a’,’g’ (3 and only 3 letters; 3 being a prime number) each occur in the sentence a prime number of times (3, 3, and 2 times respectively; 2 and 3 being prime numbers).
This sentence expresses the same sentiment:
We love language.
The sentence, however, does not respect the double prime rule. ‘e’,’a’,’g’ all occur a prime number of times (3, 2, and 2 times respectively), but ‘l’ also occurs 2 times. This means that 4 letters occur a prime number of times (4 not being a prime number).
At first consideration, it may seem that DP-bot is a bit too constrained in the semantics that it can express, since the match in meaning between the two sentences is approximate. However, if sentences get longer, or if the rule is defined to apply at a higher level (e.g., paragraph and not the sentence level), it will be easier to encode semantics into a text that respects the double prime rule without burdensome constraints.
DP-bot upholds the First Law of Robotic Language in that all language content generated by DP-bot respects the double prime rule and is thus identifiable as having been generated by DP-bot. DP-bot upholds the Second Law because it is easy to validate that a sentence respects the double prime rule. The only knowledge that is needed for validation is the natural language sentence that states the double prime rule, i.e., “a prime number of letters must occur a prime number of times in a sentence”. DP-bot does not do very well with the Third Law, since it is easy to create a sentence that respects the double prime rule, thereby counterfeiting DP-bot language. Even manually constructing a sentence that complies to the double prime rule is not difficult. Currently, we are working on formulating rules that are more sophisticated than the double prime rule and that require a large amount of computational power or specialized training data in order to embed them into natural language sentences.
Note that the language robot DP-bot produces text that encodes a mark, but that this mark is not a watermark. Let’s call it an sourcemark, since it marks a language robot as having been the source of the text. A watermark is also a pattern that is embedded into content, like text or an image. Its purpose is to identify ownership. A watermark is designed to be robust to change. For example, if a text is paraphrased or excerpted the mark should still remain. An sourcemark, however, is meant to identify the original text and associate it with a creator (the source). A small change in text might compromise the meaning, e.g., We do not adore language. A creator can no longer claim responsibility for text once it has changed, and should not be identified with the changed text. Unlike a watermark, a sourcemark must disappear when the text has been changed.
Note that the double-prime rule has nothing to do with encryption. Prime numbers are used because they are a relatively small set of numbers that are easy to describe. If the rule can be expressed in a single sentence, “a prime number of letters must occur a prime number of times in a sentence”, then it is easy to confirm the rule without any sophisticated technology, such as a machine learning classifier or a key (with enough patience it can be done without even using a computer). If we used a form of encryption, the ability to verify the identity of a language robot would be restricted to the subset of people who have the appropriate technology (requiring software installation and maintenance, computation, passing of keys).
Following the Three Laws of Robotics means designing language robots that embed sourcemarks in all the content that they generate. Here, we have presented a simple (and not yet completely successful) example of a sourcemark. We expect that any number of sourcemarks could be developed. An interesting overall property is that even if we do not have knowledge of the presence of a sourcemark, carrying out some simple statistics could reveal the difference between marked and unmarked language content. This signal would reflect a “suspected” language robot, and trigger deeper investigation. As further sourcemarks are developed, desirable properties of marks going beyond the Three Laws of Robot Language can be innovated.
The double prime rule states that a prime number of letters must occur a prime number of times in a sentence. The rule is upheld by this sentence since ‘e’,’a’,’g’ (3 and only 3 letters; 3 being a prime number) each occur in the sentence a prime number of times (3, 3, and 2 times respectively; 2 and 3 being prime numbers).
This sentence expresses the same sentiment:
We love language.
The sentence, however, does not respect the double prime rule. ‘e’,’a’,’g’ all occur a prime number of times (3, 2, and 2 times respectively), but ‘l’ also occurs 2 times. This means that 4 letters occur a prime number of times (4 not being a prime number).
At first consideration, it may seem that DP-bot is a bit too constrained in the semantics that it can express, since the match in meaning between the two sentences is approximate. However, if sentences get longer, or if the rule is defined to apply at a higher level (e.g., paragraph and not the sentence level), it will be easier to encode semantics into a text that respects the double prime rule without burdensome constraints.
DP-bot upholds the First Law of Robotic Language in that all language content generated by DP-bot respects the double prime rule and is thus identifiable as having been generated by DP-bot. DP-bot upholds the Second Law because it is easy to validate that a sentence respects the double prime rule. The only knowledge that is needed for validation is the natural language sentence that states the double prime rule, i.e., “a prime number of letters must occur a prime number of times in a sentence”. DP-bot does not do very well with the Third Law, since it is easy to create a sentence that respects the double prime rule, thereby counterfeiting DP-bot language. Even manually constructing a sentence that complies to the double prime rule is not difficult. Currently, we are working on formulating rules that are more sophisticated than the double prime rule and that require a large amount of computational power or specialized training data in order to embed them into natural language sentences.
Note that the language robot DP-bot produces text that encodes a mark, but that this mark is not a watermark. Let’s call it an sourcemark, since it marks a language robot as having been the source of the text. A watermark is also a pattern that is embedded into content, like text or an image. Its purpose is to identify ownership. A watermark is designed to be robust to change. For example, if a text is paraphrased or excerpted the mark should still remain. An sourcemark, however, is meant to identify the original text and associate it with a creator (the source). A small change in text might compromise the meaning, e.g., We do not adore language. A creator can no longer claim responsibility for text once it has changed, and should not be identified with the changed text. Unlike a watermark, a sourcemark must disappear when the text has been changed.
Note that the double-prime rule has nothing to do with encryption. Prime numbers are used because they are a relatively small set of numbers that are easy to describe. If the rule can be expressed in a single sentence, “a prime number of letters must occur a prime number of times in a sentence”, then it is easy to confirm the rule without any sophisticated technology, such as a machine learning classifier or a key (with enough patience it can be done without even using a computer). If we used a form of encryption, the ability to verify the identity of a language robot would be restricted to the subset of people who have the appropriate technology (requiring software installation and maintenance, computation, passing of keys).
Following the Three Laws of Robotics means designing language robots that embed sourcemarks in all the content that they generate. Here, we have presented a simple (and not yet completely successful) example of a sourcemark. We expect that any number of sourcemarks could be developed. An interesting overall property is that even if we do not have knowledge of the presence of a sourcemark, carrying out some simple statistics could reveal the difference between marked and unmarked language content. This signal would reflect a “suspected” language robot, and trigger deeper investigation. As further sourcemarks are developed, desirable properties of marks going beyond the Three Laws of Robot Language can be innovated.
