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AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

kolide.com

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Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#21

Post by ericd »

sublinear wrote: post #8
kypro wrote: post #2

> Yes, large language models (LLMs) are not actually AI in that they are not actually intelligent, but we’re going to use the common nomenclature here. I'm sorry for the off-topic comment, but why do I keep seeing this? What am I missing here – is it that some people define intelligence as >= human, or that LLM are not intelligence because they're *just* statistical models?

> LLM are not intelligence because they're just statistical models This is exactly it for me.

And if your brain is mostly a statistical model of the world, with action probabilities based on what parts of it happen to be excited at the moment?

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#22

Post by ryanklee »

russdill wrote: post #13
kypro wrote: post #2

> Yes, large language models (LLMs) are not actually AI in that they are not actually intelligent, but we’re going to use the common nomenclature here. I'm sorry for the off-topic comment, but why do I keep seeing this? What am I missing here – is it that some people define intelligence as >= human, or that LLM are not intelligence because they're *just* statistical models?

It's statistical models all the way down.

That is not a very good reason to call an entity unintelligent. There are uncontroversial models of human intelligence that are Bayesian.

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#23

Post by hospitalJail »

bee_rider wrote: post #19
kypro wrote: post #2

> Yes, large language models (LLMs) are not actually AI in that they are not actually intelligent, but we’re going to use the common nomenclature here. I'm sorry for the off-topic comment, but why do I keep seeing this? What am I missing here – is it that some people define intelligence as >= human, or that LLM are not intelligence because they're *just* statistical models?

Very clever people have located true intelligence in the gaps between what an machine can do and what a human can. Therefore, to show that you aren’t a starry-eyed rube you put a disclaimer that you aren’t really talking about intelligence, but something that just looks and acts like it. True intelligence is, of course, definitionally the ability to do things like art or… err, wait, sorry, I haven’t checked recently,…

Stable Diffusion doesnt make art, it makes photos. We can deem them art.

Its denoising software.

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#24

Post by [deleted] »

kypro wrote: post #2

> Yes, large language models (LLMs) are not actually AI in that they are not actually intelligent, but we’re going to use the common nomenclature here. I'm sorry for the off-topic comment, but why do I keep seeing this? What am I missing here – is it that some people define intelligence as >= human, or that LLM are not intelligence because they're *just* statistical models?

[deleted]

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#25

Post by waboremo »

mahogany wrote: post #5
CyberDildonics wrote: post #3

Browser Extensions Are a Security Nightmare - I guess you can add AI in front to make it seem new.

Exactly - it blows my mind how normalized the permission Access your data for all websites is (I think it's Read and Change all your data on all websites for Chrome ). I use only one or two extensions because of this. Why does a procrastination tool need such an insanely broad permission?

If it operates on more than one domain, it needs those permissions to function based on how the permissions system works. You can limit those yourself in the settings page for the extension, but everything else is basically workarounds applied to avoid that permission.

For example, a web clipper operates on multiple domains, but it can avoid it by using activetab permission instead and then offering optional permissions if it wants when you click on the clipper extension icon.

If you want something to be done automatically on multiple domains, this is not possible without that permission. Not unless you want to annoy users with prompts.

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#26

Post by hospitalJail »

sublinear wrote: post #8
kypro wrote: post #2

> Yes, large language models (LLMs) are not actually AI in that they are not actually intelligent, but we’re going to use the common nomenclature here. I'm sorry for the off-topic comment, but why do I keep seeing this? What am I missing here – is it that some people define intelligence as >= human, or that LLM are not intelligence because they're *just* statistical models?

> LLM are not intelligence because they're just statistical models This is exactly it for me.

Its interesting to see what it thinks about some ideas, like I ask, what 5 companies are best at marketing. My goal here is to be hypercritical of the companies it says because they are masters at manipulation. GPT3.5 was awful and confused advertising and marketing. GPT4 was perfect (Apple, Nike, Coke, Amazon, P&G)

As much as chatgpt doesnt want to give you answers because the fuzziness, it has the ability to make judgements on things like "This is the best" or "This is the worst".

Ofc with bias.

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#28

Post by hospitalJail »

mahogany wrote: post #5
CyberDildonics wrote: post #3

Browser Extensions Are a Security Nightmare - I guess you can add AI in front to make it seem new.

Exactly - it blows my mind how normalized the permission Access your data for all websites is (I think it's Read and Change all your data on all websites for Chrome ). I use only one or two extensions because of this. Why does a procrastination tool need such an insanely broad permission?

Just because an extension can do that, doesnt mean they are sending your info to a server.

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#29

Post by jmopp »

ericd wrote: post #21
sublinear wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> LLM are not intelligence because they're just statistical models This is exactly it for me.

And if your brain is mostly a statistical model of the world, with action probabilities based on what parts of it happen to be excited at the moment?

How do we know that the brain is a statistical model of the world? It sounds like explaining an unknown phenomenon using the technology du jour - just 10/20 years ago, the brain was a computer.

Re: AI browser extensions are a security nightmare

#30

Post by mahogany »

hospitalJail wrote: post #28
mahogany wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly - it blows my mind how normalized the permission Access your data for all websites is (I think it's Read and Change all your data on all websites for Chrome ). I use only one or two extensions because of this. Why does a procrastination tool need such an insanely broad permission?

Just because an extension can do that, doesnt mean they are sending your info to a server.

No, but (1) you are trusting the extension to not do that, and (2) even if you vet the extension now, it could change in the future. Or am I mistaken? My understanding is that by default, extensions update automatically. If you accept these permissions initially, then you implicitly accept them for any future update. The alternative is keeping track of and updating every extension manually, re-vetting each one every time.
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