Is there anyway to know for sure that a sentient artificial intelligence(SAI) doesn't already exist?
(Not sure if the acronym SAI existed before but it does now and it's got a nice ring to it )
I've been following the bitcoin story and reading a bit about how it works (Still don't completely understand how it works), besides the wonder and potential of Bitcoin itself, is the peculiar story of the creator of Bitcoin - Satoshi Nakamoto.
For those how don't know, Satoshi Nakamoto posted a paper in 2008 called "A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" on the internet. The paper detailed how to build what we now know as Bitcoin.
The instructions were open source and although it's clear that Satoshi contributed, Bitcoin was built by enthusiasts among the online cryptographic community.
Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym so nobody really knows who the creator(s) of Bitcoin really is. This has lead to much speculation and there are many likely candidates. It could be a person, people, a corporation or even a government.
How do we know Bitcoin wasn't created by a SAI?
I'm not suggesting is was, it merely got me thinking about whether there is any way to know if an SAI already exists? Would there be a definite signal or sign? Do we as a society have any scientific tests to check if we have given birth to a self aware, artificially intelligent AI?
(Besides the turing test which is only useful if you're aware of a potential AI and provided the AI agrees to what would surely be the most mundane activity an AI could be asked to do)
Would a government, corporation or even person or people be likely to share the fact if they had created an AI?
I've always assumed that we would know if an inanimate collection of silicone suddenly became aware since such an entity would be so vastly more advanced than us and it would likely require an exponential amount of resources not least bandwidth.
What if a tinkering scientist has created a baby sAI? What if Bitcoin is actually the work of an sAI who's working for it's creator. The sAI would likely require a lot or resources.
It has been reported that at last valuation Satoshi Nakamoto's bitcoin stash was worth over a $billion. Every transaction on the Bitcoin network is traceable and to date Satoshi hasn't touched a single coin.
Are there any people out there who could offer some informed views or even uniformed (as I am) postulations?