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Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

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Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#31

Post by yreg »

I guess we are all concerned about LLMs being used by nefarious users (for propaganda, manipulation, scams, …).

But I’m curious, hacker news, how many of you are concerned (like Eliezer) that LLMs lead to strong AI and the AI itself (rather than its users) endangering humanity?

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#33

Post by ilaksh »

anongraddebt wrote: post #26
scarmig wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-aggrandizement isn't anything foreign to Eliezer, but he's genuinely terrified. Milking it for every drop doesn't really capture what he's doing.

Yeah, I wonder sometimes how many people gloss over what it would mean for an “ASI” to exist. We would - if successful - effectively be creating a supernatural being (at least, there wouldn’t be much of a distinction between it and one). Sure, there’s hype, and FUD, and fatalism, etc. But, if you believe the creation of such a thing is within your lifetime then it would be difficult to find many higher priority issue…

GPT-4 is superhuman in some ways.

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#34

Post by ilaksh »

dougmwne wrote: post #14

The Butlerian Jihad is officially no longer science fiction. Man may not be replaced. “The Letter” was obviously self serving drivel from people who want time to get in the game. Google does care about AI existential risk, they care about beating Microsoft by any means possible, including declaring a moratorium, but continuing to make progress behind the scenes. This guy is the real deal. I can imagine he would perso…

What does the word "super" mean to you? In some ways, GPT4 is already superintelligent. So is ChatGPT 3.5. Do you know anyone who can translate natural language to code as fast as GPT 3.5, or, given a few paragraphs of reference text, perfectly tutor a child on any subject under the sun at a moment's notice like GPT4 is doing for Khan Academy?

How many artists do you know who can produce almost any style of artwork with any subject matter within 15 seconds?

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#35

Post by Imnimo »

I feel like if I actually believed that the death of all biological life was imminent and that the only way to forestall it was to bomb data centers, I'd spend a lot more time planning how to bomb data centers and a lot less time curating Shoggoth memes on my web forum. On the other hand, if I were more concerned with self-aggrandizement, writing doomsaying thinkpieces for Time is exactly what I'd spend my time on.

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#36

Post by dspeyer »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #6

I'm anxious, excited, and nervous about AI, but this feels more akin to luddite-thinking, the world's about to shift, but I'm hoping the shift is a positive one.

The author and most of his associates generally qualify as techno-utopians, and speak routinely of the "glorious transhumanist future".

Smarter-than-human AGI really is different from all previous technologies, in much the same way that homo sapiens is different from all preceding life on earth.

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#37

Post by dspeyer »

Imnimo wrote: post #35

I feel like if I actually believed that the death of all biological life was imminent and that the only way to forestall it was to bomb data centers, I'd spend a lot more time planning how to bomb data centers and a lot less time curating Shoggoth memes on my web forum. On the other hand, if I were more concerned with self-aggrandizement, writing doomsaying thinkpieces for Time is exactly what I'd spend my time on.

Eliezer does not curate any web forum.

He says he is not planning to bomb any data centers, but he's also said that if he were planning to bomb data centers, he'd lie about it in public, so...

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#38

Post by BenPace »

Imnimo wrote: post #35

I feel like if I actually believed that the death of all biological life was imminent and that the only way to forestall it was to bomb data centers, I'd spend a lot more time planning how to bomb data centers and a lot less time curating Shoggoth memes on my web forum. On the other hand, if I were more concerned with self-aggrandizement, writing doomsaying thinkpieces for Time is exactly what I'd spend my time on.

Just because everything is on the line does not mean it is okay to kill people. Please try to ask yourself what you would do if you were an ethical person who thought human extinction was imminent.

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#39

Post by htrp »

> Many researchers working on these systems think that we’re plunging toward a catastrophe, with more of them daring to say it in private than in public; but they think that they can’t unilaterally stop the forward plunge, that others will go on even if they personally quit their jobs.

this seems like a very broad unfounded statement. Can we even find AI researchers who have said this on twitter?

Re: Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

#40

Post by Analemma_ »

Imnimo wrote: post #35

I feel like if I actually believed that the death of all biological life was imminent and that the only way to forestall it was to bomb data centers, I'd spend a lot more time planning how to bomb data centers and a lot less time curating Shoggoth memes on my web forum. On the other hand, if I were more concerned with self-aggrandizement, writing doomsaying thinkpieces for Time is exactly what I'd spend my time on.

These types of arguments-- "if you actually believed X, you'd be doing Y"-- always ring false to me. If you genuinely believed that the death of all biological life was imminent and the only way to forestall it was to bomb data centers and you were a normal, functional human being who did not want to bomb data centers, you'd probably sink into hopeless depression. Which is, in fact, exactly what Eliezer has done - if you talk to anyone around him, it's common knowledge that he has been despondent for the past ~12 months or so. It certainly does not seem like a self-aggrandizement tactic.
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