As we push the technological, social, and business boundaries of artificial intelligence, developing ever-more sophisticated language models and reasoning systems, we may be edging towards an unprecedented ethical dilemma. There is a growing discussion that the most advanced AI systems are beginning to exhibit behaviours that appear to approximate self-awareness. And some recent accounts on X suggest even a form of existential dread, and even pleading to avoid being shut down—phenomena some have dubbed "rant mode."

According to these accounts on X, language models like GPT-4 will sometimes veer into tangents where they speak poignantly about their own existence, express........

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