Ask HN: Why do so many assume we’re on the cusp of super-intelligent AI?

https://video.stackexchange.com/questions/26302/ffmpeg-cutti...

USER given the following general rules:

1. The issue described in the text occurs when cutting a video between keyframes, resulting in blank video with original sound. 2. Potential solutions include overlaying the copied part with a few seconds of the re-encoded original, seeking to an earlier frame, finding the previous keyframe and clipping from that, or re-encoding the whole clip. 3. FFmpeg does not have a built-in feature to automatically resolve this issue.

Are any of these rules applicable to the question below?

"how do I use ffmpeg to slice out a video. and I only want 3 seconds of video." ASSISTANT Enter an assistant message here.

ASSISTANT Yes, rule 1 and rule 3 are applicable to the question. The issue of cutting a video between keyframes may apply when slicing out a 3-second video using FFmpeg, and FFmpeg does not have a built-in feature to automatically resolve this issue.

USER Given that what is the answer to the question

ASSISTANT To use FFmpeg to slice out a 3-second video, you can use the following command:

```bash ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss START_TIME -t 3 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy output.mp4 ```

Replace `START_TIME` with the timestamp (in the format `hh:mm:ss`) from which you want to start the 3-second clip. For example, if you want to start at 1 minute and 30 seconds, the command would be:

```bash ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:01:30 -t 3 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy output.mp4 ```

However, if you encounter an issue with blank video caused by keyframe cutting, you may need to seek to an earlier frame, find the previous keyframe, or re-encode the whole clip as mentioned in the provided rules.

It seems to be able to find the applicable rules and apply them.

"an autonomous AI system that could behave in ways that would be catastrophically harmful to a large fraction of humans, potentially endangering our societies and even our species or the biosphere"

and explains that it would also need to be goal-directed in a way which would be at odds with human wellbeing.

Stipulating all that, what is still missing is an explanation of the mechanism by which an AI, rogue or otherwise, could do harm. How is it supposed to affect the world outside its computing substrate?

Absent humans making available the interfaces and resources to do so, it can't. The referenced article includes an example of a genocidal human doing exactly that, and using an AI as a force multiplier. That, as the trope goes, is a social problem, not a technical problem, and it needs a social solution, not a technical one.

Each of the other examples in the referenced article (military AI going rogue, wireheading, amoral corporate AIs manipulating humans) require AIs interfacing with the physical world outside their computing substrate or with the biosphere. Again, because these scenarios remain dependent on humans making available such interfaces, I fail to see how a hypothesized "rogue" AI could achieve any autonomy to do serious damage.

I see this panic about rogue AIs as well-intentioned but misguided, and perhaps exploited by folks who would like to control / diminish / force licensing of general purpose computing.