Sentience of Droids

[Darth Cognus]

Well, AI is a fairly hot topic and Droids certainly have a significant part to play in the Star Wars universe so the question goes... how sentient are droids? And looping in, is there even true AI in this galaxy far far away?

In general, 'dumb computers' seem to be the standard. Nav computers and so forth. They're very very good as you would hope but not autonomous. Slight canon exceptions exist such as holocrons, though these strike me as simply very well done dumb ai and not adequately sentient, and then of course droids.

Droids interest me in their sheer range of 'known intelligence', which I've hardly ever been able to distinguish between simply very advanced programming which can get quirky or confused (a la c3po and r2d2) or extremely limited genuine intelligence. The term AI is thrown around a lot and it might apply colloquially here but to have true intelligence beyond scripts and supertuned chatgpt is a little different. Perhaps it's far along enough in Star Wars that it doesn't matter, and there is room for a story that explores a droid truly unlocking its potential in the style of I don't know, Agent Smith. However I haven't seen much that tells me of any superintelligence, a wide, expansive all-knowing AI resembling the AI craze of some decades ago. There's degrees of autonomy but they're either programmatically limited or simply locked off from being much more than their current forms, pesky 'please don't kill us all' rules. Probably both. In a universe focusing on a giant spirit war the conundrum of artificial intelligence was always a side story. Solo of all films actually gets into this a little but there's nothing which would answer this train of thought for me.

Lacking much more to add I'll just give you some wookiepedia links of interesting droids.

• 0-0-0, not the friendliest of droids but one who mused about just giving droids use of the force (dear god)
• G0-T0, because you knew I had to sneak in a reference to KOTOR. An example of how far an adequate droid can go with a little ambition.
• HK-47, another KOTOR reference and just the type to imagine going Agent Smith as mentioned above.
• L3-37, that droid from Solo who asks all the sticky questions...

For general reference which unfortunately doesn't add too much to this (do check out the legends tab as it has a little more to it): Droids

Did you know George Lucas has a trademark on "droid"? Sheesh...

 

[Al]

Sadly I have never given it much thought, I always just assumed that they were sentient. That thought probably started with "We're doomed for sure". That's an awareness of mortality and, when I think about it now, an aversion to being killed - such as all living creatures have. There is also an argument that sentience =\= intelligence. (some of the people I see walking around as sentient but far from intelligent).

I asked an AI to determine what sentience is:

Sentience refers to the capacity for subjective experience or consciousness. It is the ability to have sensations, feelings, and perceptions. A sentient being is aware of its own existence and can have subjective experiences, such as pleasure, pain, emotions, and other forms of awareness.

Sentience is often used in discussions about the ethical treatment of beings, as it implies a level of awareness and the potential for the being to experience well-being or suffering. Humans are considered sentient, as they possess self-awareness and can consciously experience the world around them. However, debates and discussions about the sentience of other animals, artificial intelligence, and even hypothetical extraterrestrial beings are ongoing.

In philosophy and science fiction, there are various levels and definitions of sentience, and it's a complex and multifaceted concept that can involve cognitive, emotional, and self-awareness aspects.

Based on that, subjective experience, feelings and perceptions, emotions... Yeah. Sentient.