Live data from Hacker News

He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

npr.org

31–40 of 132 posts

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#33
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Putting aside all the ai-recommends-you-eat-a-few-rocks-a-day evidence... Letting machines incapable of empathy, bereft of accountability for themselves or their creators, make decisions to end one or more lives, is a monstrous idea on its face. Additionally, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_boomerang

Mechanized warfare has been a thing for generations now. What is the difference between AI and a pressure switch? AI can choose to NOT kill the 13 year old playing football in the field 5 years later.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#37

[flagged]

No, it won't.

The Russian government, while dumb and incompetent to an unbelievable point, isn't dumb enough to try killing on American soil. Besides, it's not like the CEOs of Russian defense companies aren't publicly known.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#38
One more comment:

>"And the companies that did have expertise, like Google, like Facebook, like Apple, were refusing to work with the U.S. national security community."

Idk if this is true. I suspect they--at a minimum--cooperate with the "soft" side of the defense industry (e.g. NSA). However, if they don't, I think there will come a time when we will have to bring them to heel. The world won't have the luxury of supporting fat corps who aren't aligned with respective hegemons (e.g. US, China, Russia). They will find themselves supporting the effort or cut off from resources and unable to continue operating.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#39
post #19

[flagged]

I feel that's in bad taste as Ukraine is defending against a foreign invasion. You can tell Russia to stop the war, they can just go home. Ukraine does not have that luxury.

Ukraine is the exception. It seems that most of the other wars the US got involved in were done with a bullshit pretext and the real reason seems to be that the US has economic/military interest in that territory.

The US might not even care about the Ukraine people. It might just be a proxy war against Russia. I mean, the US doesn't give a shit about Gaza. You can tell ~~Russia~~ Israel to stop the war...

You can be pro-Ukraine and against the always growing military-industrial complex.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#40
post #19

[flagged]

Of all my colleagues I've had the chance to have a real talk with, defense was the only vertical where the developers more-often-than-not had a robust understanding of the moral and ethical questions their products posed.

I might disagree with their choice to work there, but I respect that choice 1000 times more than the unexamined position.

The default attitude I see elsewhere is that everyone has decided their employer is benign, and they'll figure out the "why" part later (or never).

Post reply on HN