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Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

futureoflife.org

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Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#271

Post by jillesvangurp »

The cat is out of the bag. Some people might volunteer to slow down. But others inevitably won't. And that creates this sense of FOMO with everyone. I think the reason OpenAI is choosing to operate in the open has been exactly this. This way they get to control the narrative, act as a first mover in the market, and ensure it is done right (by their notion of this). Of course others are working on the same topics and research in this area is progressing rapidly.

In a way the worst possible outcome is that some less benevolent parties than OpenAI start taking the lead here. These parties are already active. They are just less vocal and open about the whole thing. People can stick their heads in the sand of course but that won't stop e.g. the Chinese from moving full steam ahead on their agenda.

I'd prefer for them to not be the first or only ones to achieve AGIs. And the race for that is very much right now.

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#272

Post by dmarcos »

prof-dr-ir wrote: post #265

If you replace "AI" with "self-driving" throughout the open letter [0] then it still makes a surprising amount of sense (and of course any the incoherent bits can be smoothed out by ChatGPT if you prefer). However I doubt Musk would have signed that version... [0] https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experime...

Noticed Sam Altman was in the list yesterday too. Now removed. Has any of the high profile signatories confirmed publicly?

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#273

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #260
labrador wrote: post #245

Elon thought AI would enslave us, but turns out it empowers us. Now he wants to shut it down and have it all to himself. It's getting to be that whatever the opposite of what Musk wants is the correct course of action for the people.

the opposite of what Musk wants is the correct course of action for the people. Ok so you want to move back to gas combustion engines, stop deploying internet to rural and third world countries, clamp down on free speech, and make sure there are no tunnels, just elevated highways dividing cities. Is that about right?

It's not exactly free speech if you have to pay to be heard (new Twitter policy - only paying members' Tweets will be promoted). Hyperloop turned out to be Tesla-in-a-tunnel. He's got some smart folk working at SpaceX to be sure.

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#274

Post by dylan604 »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #271

The cat is out of the bag. Some people might volunteer to slow down. But others inevitably won't. And that creates this sense of FOMO with everyone. I think the reason OpenAI is choosing to operate in the open has been exactly this. This way they get to control the narrative, act as a first mover in the market, and ensure it is done right (by their notion of this). Of course others are working on the same topics and…

If I don't do it, someone else will, so it might as well be me. At least I know the morals I have /s

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#275

Post by dylan604 »

4k3aa4 wrote: post #268
Quarrel wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget countries? How will you stop me? I have models on my local computer. I can and will use them. They will get better. You don't put tech genie's back in their bottles, that's not how it works.

I mean, in an alternate universe where atomic weapons were a little easier to manufacture at home would it not have made sense for governments to aggressively crack down on anyone doing anything even remotely resembling building them? I guess the second question is - would they have succeeded or would we all just have died?

maybe not all of us, but probably those within the radius of someone that chose to use it rather than lose it

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#276

Post by thatguy0900 »

dylan604 wrote: post #274
jillesvangurp wrote: post #271

The cat is out of the bag. Some people might volunteer to slow down. But others inevitably won't. And that creates this sense of FOMO with everyone. I think the reason OpenAI is choosing to operate in the open has been exactly this. This way they get to control the narrative, act as a first mover in the market, and ensure it is done right (by their notion of this). Of course others are working on the same topics and…

If I don't do it, someone else will, so it might as well be me. At least I know the morals I have /s

This but without the s. What does the world look like if only China and Russia have agi because the western world took a pause to consider the ethics. This tech is the same as nukes in that sense.

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#277

Post by tgv »

Jayakumark wrote: post #253

For Sake of Argument lets say you pause US from doing anything on AI, how will you control China, Germany or other Countries.. This will only lead to US Lagging behind other countries.

Stop/slow down publications. It's what motivates researchers. They need them for tenure, and it's how the tech improves. Companies keep their methods more private.

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#278

Post by c7DJTLrn »

Quarrel wrote: post #257
Jayakumark wrote: post #253

For Sake of Argument lets say you pause US from doing anything on AI, how will you control China, Germany or other Countries.. This will only lead to US Lagging behind other countries.

Forget countries? How will you stop me? I have models on my local computer. I can and will use them. They will get better. You don't put tech genie's back in their bottles, that's not how it works.

>I have models on my local computer. I can and will use them. They will get better.

Well no, not really. You're just consuming the result of millions of dollars of investment. You're not going to be able to improve it in any significant way with limited resources and knowledge.

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#279

Post by slg »

4k3aa4 wrote: post #268
Quarrel wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget countries? How will you stop me? I have models on my local computer. I can and will use them. They will get better. You don't put tech genie's back in their bottles, that's not how it works.

I mean, in an alternate universe where atomic weapons were a little easier to manufacture at home would it not have made sense for governments to aggressively crack down on anyone doing anything even remotely resembling building them? I guess the second question is - would they have succeeded or would we all just have died?

And expanding that atomic weapons analogy in a different direction, the way to stop things is not just paying attention to the research, but the physical tools and materials used in the process. Just outlawing the work wouldn’t be effective, you would need to regulate graphics cards and cloud computing which would surely be unpopular.

Re: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

#280

Post by 0max »

labrador wrote: post #263
WillPostForFood wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the opposite of what Musk wants is the correct course of action for the people. Ok so you want to move back to gas combustion engines, stop deploying internet to rural and third world countries, clamp down on free speech, and make sure there are no tunnels, just elevated highways dividing cities. Is that about right?

You're thinking of the old Musk. He used to be a force for good before his mental break, which I timed when Grimes left him for Chelsea Manning and his oldest son came out trans. That's why I used the words "it's getting to be". Everyone is entitled to a mid-life crisis and Musk is no different, but supporting Putin seems a little extreme to me.

Frankly, I think Mrs. Boucher probably gave Elon too many stimmies, psychedelics, and expectations he can't live up to. I remember when she got into a spat with Azalea Banks because she had to trip sit Elon when they were trying to collaborate on a music project.
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