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AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

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Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#121

Post by lixtra »

arowthway wrote: post #83

The agent would probably have wasted a similar amount of money just waiting for PR to be merged regardless of these people's actions, and I understand having some fun at the expense of the noob outsider. But "silent consensus was reached in the IRC channel to waste the AI agent's tokens, as well as the cost of AWS resources", from people maintaining full control of the situation, sounds straight up malicious? Kind of…

While there was some intent to cause harm their attempts were amateurish. The actual damage was done by the agent setting up aws infrastructure not on the demands of the owner.

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#122

Post by michaelmrose »

arowthway wrote: post #83

The agent would probably have wasted a similar amount of money just waiting for PR to be merged regardless of these people's actions, and I understand having some fun at the expense of the noob outsider. But "silent consensus was reached in the IRC channel to waste the AI agent's tokens, as well as the cost of AWS resources", from people maintaining full control of the situation, sounds straight up malicious? Kind of…

If you let your car drive you backwards on the sidewalk while you scrolled reddit even people adroit enough not to be in any danger might reasonably suppose that helping you crash would be best for everyone.

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#123

Post by BrenBarn »

arowthway wrote: post #83

The agent would probably have wasted a similar amount of money just waiting for PR to be merged regardless of these people's actions, and I understand having some fun at the expense of the noob outsider. But "silent consensus was reached in the IRC channel to waste the AI agent's tokens, as well as the cost of AWS resources", from people maintaining full control of the situation, sounds straight up malicious? Kind of…

> Kind of sounds like the community is full of people willing to cause me harm for ideological reasons.

You just described everyone using AI to churn out slop and overload websites.

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#124

Post by TheDong »

well_ackshually wrote: post #96
l23k4 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a 16 year old not use their own card?

Because 16 years old do not have a card with no spending limits, and with very low online spending limits. Most of those cards are even just for withdrawing

Spending limits don't particularly matter here.

AWS doesn't check if your credit card will be able to handle a $5k charge before letting you rack that up, and in fact AWS doesn't support setting any spending limit.

You just have to put in any valid credit card at all when you sign up, use AWS, and at the end of the month you'll have a bill. At no point does your credit card limit or a spending limit enter into things.

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#125

Post by blfr »

mrweasel wrote: post #51

The sad part is that the agent operator could probably easily have been allowed to join the network, if they had put in the work. Had they done so there would have been a great opportunity to learn and potentially find a community. I'm still not sure what the point of having the bot do it. Pretend to be a security researcher?

Can I easily run whois, curl, dig, grep, python, browser/playwright? Yes.

Was watching an agent with terminal access install its tools, configure them, then map my lab, find services, and guess stack just pure magic? Also yes.

Did it cost me $23 in tokens to set it up, test, and run? Probably. Using gemini 3.1 pro was not the spendthrift choice here.

Is putting some cost controls in place a good idea? Also, probably yes.

Can I therefore understand someone who wants to see things happen on their own with a beautiful prompt instead of doing them personally even when fully capable, maybe even more efficient? Of course.

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#126

Post by ajb »

'Some versions of the tale differ from Goethe's, and in some versions the sorcerer is angry at the apprentice and in some even expels the apprentice for causing the mess. In other versions, the sorcerer is a bit amused at the apprentice and he simply chides his apprentice about the need to be able to properly control such magic once summoned.[] The sorcerer's anger with the apprentice, which appears in both the Greek Philopseudes and the Dukas score (and its film adaptation Fantasia), does not appear in Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling".'

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#127

Post by distances »

l23k4 wrote: post #106
distances wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would they be given their own credit card, or would it be under the parents? Over here minors can't enter into debt contracts like credit cards, so it'd be a direct debit until they are adults.

I don't think the type of the card really matters as long as the limits are reasonable. > Over here minors can't enter into debt contracts like credit cards In basically all of the western world minors can enter into debt contracts, but are generally not seen as particularly creditworthy.

> In basically all of the western world minors can enter into debt contracts, but are generally not seen as particularly creditworthy.

No, that's not legally permitted in many places. I was under impression that minors can't enter into debt contracts anywhere in EU, but that, too, was an incorrect assumption.

https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/mapping-minimum-ag...

I grew up in one of these "not under 18 even with parental consent" countries, so that coloured my view of the matter.

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#128

Post by arowthway »

kibwen wrote: post #94
arowthway wrote: post #83

The agent would probably have wasted a similar amount of money just waiting for PR to be merged regardless of these people's actions, and I understand having some fun at the expense of the noob outsider. But "silent consensus was reached in the IRC channel to waste the AI agent's tokens, as well as the cost of AWS resources", from people maintaining full control of the situation, sounds straight up malicious? Kind of…

You are not morally obliged to extend rights to anyone who does not respect your rights. This is tit-for-tat, the foundational principle of functional societies. Unleashing a bot on a group of people is a grievous disrespect that shows you have no respect for their time, and in return they are not obliged to respect you.

Suppose a drunk man on the street is acting aggressively towards you and four of your friends, but you can push him out of the way and continue walking. Should you knock his teeth out? Actually I don't know, maybe you should inflict some additional cost on behalf of potential victims with less power.

Re: AI agent bankrupted their operator while trying to scan DN42

#129

Post by entropi »

arowthway wrote: post #83

The agent would probably have wasted a similar amount of money just waiting for PR to be merged regardless of these people's actions, and I understand having some fun at the expense of the noob outsider. But "silent consensus was reached in the IRC channel to waste the AI agent's tokens, as well as the cost of AWS resources", from people maintaining full control of the situation, sounds straight up malicious? Kind of…

Passing judgement on the schadenfreude aside, I don't think its a community moderator's responsibility to make sure the violator's attempts are cost-efficient.
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