Studies in Science of Science ›› 2025, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 1216-1222.

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Reflection on ChatGPT Based on Marx's Scientific and Technological Ethics

  

  • Received:2024-05-13 Revised:2024-07-04 Online:2025-06-15 Published:2025-06-15

ChatGPT 基于马克思科技伦理观的反思

王维平1,1,廖扬眉2   

  1. 1.
    2. 兰州大学马克思主义学院
  • 通讯作者: 廖扬眉

Abstract: The ChatGPT bot chat program has successfully attracted the attention of various industries with its powerful features, and it is worth pondering the mixed discussion, especially the doubts about this technology, more focused on its ethical scrutiny. What is the nature of ChatGPT’s technology? What impact does it have on the development of human society? Looking at the history of human thought, Marx’s scientific and technological ethics, formed by his ethical reflection and criticism of science and technology more than a century ago, is still extremely profound today. It inspires us to conduct in-depth ethical thinking on ChatGPT, the latest progress of artificial intelligence technology, from three dimensions: the nature of technology, the alienation of technology itself, and the alienation and liberation of technology to people. And then, it helps us to free ourselves from excessive worship or extreme confusion about ChatGPT. In the wave of the world's new scientific and technological revolution, at the end of 2022, a robot chat program called ChatGPT, once it came out, has attracted grate attention around the world. In just two months, it reached 100 million users. Its strong learning ability and thinking ability have once again refreshed people's cognition of artificial intelligence technology. Like all previous technological innovations, there are optimists who are full of excitement and thrill, and pessimists who are full of worry and fear. Admittedly, with the increasing achievements of scientific and technological progress, opportunities and challenges always exist at the same time. Round after round of scientific and technological revolution makes human beings are more and more at a loss for the unknown and uncontrollable about the development trend of science and technology. In recent years, the development of artificial intelligence technology, especially ChatGPT technology, has gradually begun to be widely used and enter people's life experience, so that people in the joy of new technology, but also strongly feel its development trend may bring risks and threats to the development of human society. Under the guidance of Marx's ethical view of science and technology, the ethical value of this new technology can be correctly understood from its essence to provide enlightenment for people to rationally utilize and further develop this technology. In fact, science and technology itself does nothing, the discoverers of science are human beings, the inventors of technology are human beings, and the people who apply and improve scientific and technological achievements are also human beings. To understand science and technology dialectically is to avoid the worship of science and technology and to avoid devaluing the greatness of man by putting science and technology on the paramount status. As Marx reveals, it is only when the object of our creation is always regarded not as the product of the creator or the gift of others, but as the product of the objectification of man's essential power and the crystallization of man's subject force, that is to say, "only when the object becomes for man the object of man or the man of objectification, man will not lose himself in his object." An important premise for believing in the power of science and technology is to reject the technicalism, promote the status of human subject creation, get rid of technology or material worship, recognize that human is the ultimate creator of material wealth, but also the ultimate dependence of the external world, and establish a no self-interest view of nature. The advent of ChatGPT with its powerful functions has aroused people's joy and panic, but we must realize that no matter how intelligent it is, from the perspective of the whole human being, it is always the objectification of the essential power of human beings. There is no need to worry that it will surpass the human mind and even become the master of human beings, because it is always a human tool. However, at the same time, as a new development of artificial intelligence technology, the emergence of many new powerful functions has not only played a positive role in promoting social progress, but also brought more ethical challenges and risks to social development. If we can't deeply understand these risks and challenges, we can't really make reasonable use of this technology, so that it will bring more adverse effects on the development and progress of human society. Under the guidance of Marx's scientific and technological ethics, the essence of ChatGPT technology and its own alienation under the logic of capital and the alienation and liberation of human beings by it should be understood correctly. And on this basis we should make a profound ethical reflection so as to get rid of the worship or panic of ChatGPT technology. All of that should be the premise for the reasonable and wide application of this new artificial intelligence technology.

摘要: ChatGPT机器人聊天程序以其强大的功能成功吸引了各行各业的注意,褒贬不一的讨论值得深思,尤其是对这一技术的质疑,更多的集中于对其进行的伦理审视。ChatGPT技术的本质究竟是什么?对人类社会的发展究竟又有着怎样的伦理影响?审视人类思想史,马克思早在一个多世纪前,对科技的伦理反思与批判所形成的科技伦理观在今天依然极为深刻,启迪我们对ChatGPT这一人工智能技术的最新进展从技术的本质、技术本身的异化以及技术对人的异化与解放三个维度进行深入的伦理思考,进而帮助我们从对它的过渡崇拜或极度困惑中解脱出来。