The knowledge base from which AI can make sense of morality is not provided in centralized fashion by programmers in an ivory tower but ideally in a decentralized collaborative fashion by anyone over the Internet.
I understand this of course and how it is achieved but that suggests that the AI would have autonomous responsibility for determining what is moral and what isn't from the information it is provided with by way of the internet and all of the communication that takes place on it but in my personal opinion, I would say that a lot of what society celebrates on social media and the internet in general is less than moral, to me, so the information would be skewed. Steemit as an example on the surface is a place of morality and decentralised thought but in reality it is no such thing and any information gained by AI from watching the behaviour and reward for that behaviour would surely lead the AI to have a twisted view of what was acceptable behaviour.
An AI which is self aware is like discovering aliens or God exists
I get this as well but forgive me for saying but science and scientists do not have the best track record for making moral decisions. The Manhattan Project and CERN are two examples I could cite where scientists through caution to the wind and made a decision which could have adversely affected the entire population. If there is the possibility of AI becoming self aware then we should give it considerable thought and I would hope decide on a different, less dangerous approach, rather than allowing my own desire to find out to override what for me is a natural instinct to air on the side of caution, especially when the potential dangers are so great.
Would you rather have your life destroyed by coordinated shunning if you mess up, or would you rather consult with an AI before doing anything so that you minimize your risk of that as much as possible?
I have to be honest and say neither but if forced to choose I would have to go for the first option. The second is just too creepy for me. I would rather be guided by my own sense of morality even though I appreciate that this has been confused throughout my life by social influences.
I really appreciate your time mate and hope you can appreciate that I am very ignorant to a lot of factors but I'd like to be more aware myself and develop my own moral compass more so I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of your posts and am sure I will be encouraged by them to consider things in a different light, which I always enjoy. :)
Cheers @dana-edwards. Have a great day mate.