OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon • Hacker News Board

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#111

Post by blibble » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:37 AM UTC

pyuser583 wrote: post #42

gremlinunderway wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The alternative to NATO expansion was transferring European defense to the EU. Or having a bunch of EU nations extremely vulnerable to Russian influence. I’m very glad it’s NATO, and not the “EU Supreme Command” defending the Continent. Russia and Ukraine probably are too.

Russia would have loved "EU Supreme Command" instead of NATO

the Germans would have happily given Ukraine up (and likely Poland too) if they got a few cents off their gas bill

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#112

Post by thelittleone » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:39 AM UTC

karaterobot wrote: post #40

hahnchen wrote: post #5

Important to know: > Anna Makanju, the company’s vice president of global affairs ... added that it will retain its ban on developing weapons

Where's the binding part of that? In a world where they just remove the language that says they won't work with the military at all , what reassurance should a verbal promise by a VP provide? Assume that the parenthetical "(... for now)" is implied in all such promises.

Tricky situation for sure. I don't like war or weapons personally but they are a reality. Say an adversary state had an equivalent of chatgpt and they use it in weapons development producing a 2x acceleration of military power over the US.

It's tricky.

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#113

Post by corethree » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:40 AM UTC

zug_zug wrote: post #103

Slightly off-topic, but it's absolutely shocking to me how quickly OpenAI has managed to do a meteoric PR nosedive. I think within 6 months they've gone from one of the most exciting (yet controversial) non-profits in the world to mistrusted company that it seems most people are rooting against.

Sam Altman. There was an attempted fix and that fix failed. Evil prevailed because of public misunderstanding and mob mentality. Be real, who else would permit this? Paul Graham fired him from ycombinator.

I'm pretty sure if the public didn't support Sam he wouldn't have been reinstated.

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#114

Post by mysterydip » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:41 AM UTC

gumballindie wrote: post #109

cm2012 wrote: post #94

The future of warfare is AI powered drones, zero doubt in my mind. Imagine the micro from Starcraft Go on a real life drone with a gun and bombs.

Imagine once they hallucinate and attack friendlies. Although if Machine Vision counts as AI then it's already widespread.

You'd never know about it unless it happened to someone you knew (thanks to AI factcheckers burying any story about it), and even then the AI news outlets would gaslight you into questioning if it really did happen.

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#115

Post by thaumasiotes » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:44 AM UTC

tartuffe78 wrote: post #23

hahnchen wrote: post #5

Important to know: > Anna Makanju, the company’s vice president of global affairs ... added that it will retain its ban on developing weapons

"They are not weapons, they are enhanced tools for war."

> "They are not weapons, they are enhanced tools for war."

It's really common for people to make arguments that would become completely incoherent if translated into another language. This is a fun example of one of those. The Chinese word for "weapons" is 武器, literally "war tools".

Compare "It would be illegal for soldiers to do that, but these are police, which is fine."

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#116

Post by andrewstuart » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:44 AM UTC

I was brought up in a household that was anti military.

Only as an adult was I able to form my own opinion.

Without a strong military in the past we would certainly not be here today and without a strong military now, who knows what other nation might decide to attack our sovereignty.

It's childish to be anti military - it shows you do not understand the interconnectedness of our society - good and bad.

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#117

Post by ericmay » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:45 AM UTC

zug_zug wrote: post #103

Slightly off-topic, but it's absolutely shocking to me how quickly OpenAI has managed to do a meteoric PR nosedive. I think within 6 months they've gone from one of the most exciting (yet controversial) non-profits in the world to mistrusted company that it seems most people are rooting against.

I personally welcome cooperation with the Pentagon for OpenAI and other American companies. The disdain that seems to infest so many when it comes to working with our national defense organizations is both annoying and bewilderingly naive and that's even when we take into consideration all of the bad things that happen.

Strengthening partnerships with our government certainly doesn't make me mistrust OpenAI.

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#118

Post by HHC-Hunter » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:46 AM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #117

zug_zug wrote: post #103

Slightly off-topic, but it's absolutely shocking to me how quickly OpenAI has managed to do a meteoric PR nosedive. I think within 6 months they've gone from one of the most exciting (yet controversial) non-profits in the world to mistrusted company that it seems most people are rooting against.

I personally welcome cooperation with the Pentagon for OpenAI and other American companies. The disdain that seems to infest so many when it comes to working with our national defense organizations is both annoying and bewilderingly naive and that's even when we take into consideration all of the bad things that happen. Strengthening partnerships with our government certainly doesn't make me mistrust OpenAI.

They have aligned themselves with he people you should exactly NOT trust. Corporations and governments.

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#119

Post by pyridines » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:47 AM UTC

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #59

Good! I'm tired of all of the SV companies presupposing that government work must be unethical. Even if the work is for weapons, having the largest advantage possible will prevent or shorten wars and save lives. Do you want your sons and daughters to fight a fair fight?

I'm reminded of the Itchy and Scratchy clip where they each pull out bigger and bigger guns on each other, until finally the earth explodes.

Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon

#120

Post by SSLy » Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 1:47 AM UTC

kornhole wrote: post #90

iknowstuff wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope so, Russia has 100% been doing it, with multiple documented „botfarms” (more like fake identity verification farms)

Yes Russia did have some accounts and bought ads on US social media some years ago, but analysis showed it had marginal effect. They are outsiders on US run social media platforms. The real power is in the hands of those running the social media platforms that can suppress or send viral what they want with a few adjustments. That certainly happened and continues still now aided by AI.

They have had impact outside of USA.