The Existential Risk of AGI • Hacker News Board

Re: The Existential Risk of AGI

#31

Post by austinjp » Sun, Oct 15, 2023, 10:40 PM UTC

danaris wrote: post #30

austinjp wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where I see self-checkouts, I see customers choosing them voluntarily Yeah there are confounding factors at play here, such as there being many automated checkouts but only one with a person. > staff ... "training" less-savvy customers to use them. Training the customers is one of the things I find most depressing. From the supermarket's perspective, customers have apparently accepted that they must do unpaid work…

To be clear, every place I have seen self-checkouts in my area, they have been optional . There's no "forcing customers to do unpaid work". Everyone who uses them is choosing to use them over the regular checkouts, which are staffed at roughly the same level they were a decade ago. They are also in one big bank, with between 1 and 3 (though usually 1) employees standing at an "operator" stand nearby, not "only 1 with…

Oh well, it seems we're talking past each other. I had no intention of moralizing at you, and no intention to suggest my experience is universal. Not at all, it's a grumpy interpretation. We see the same things and interpret them differently. I may be an introvert too, but still see automated checkouts as alienating and exacerbating social ills.

Re: The Existential Risk of AGI

#32

Post by andrewflnr » Mon, Oct 16, 2023, 2:42 AM UTC

austinjp wrote: post #28

andrewflnr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not my experience. Mostly they just work. Boring, perhaps, but I really don't want my grocery shopping to be exciting, and it wasn't actually going to be a moment of deep human connection anyway, so not much lost there. I more often find a traditional checkout line tiresome. Loyalty systems are an interesting point to raise, since in a self-checkout system they can't nag you as effectively to join. Otherwise t…

Orthogonal to what? :) Loyalty schemes, staff reduction, staff deskilling, foisting unpaid work onto customers, etc etc are all perfectly aligned. I'd disagree with your point about effective nagging. A human might get the message, particularly if they know you. An automated checkout never will, every transaction is identical. Obviously my perspective is very "bah humbug". However, there are several major issues in m…

Orthogonal in that you can have one without the other. Clearly, since loyalty programs predate self checkout by... decades, at least? I don't even really disagree on the rest, but I don't see self checkout as an obstacle to fixing those problems.

Re: The Existential Risk of AGI

#33

Post by sacnoradhq » Tue, Oct 17, 2023, 5:25 AM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #23

logicchains wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Consider what alignment means Also consider, humans are not homogeneous; whose goals are we aligning it with? If the alignment is done by silicon valley big tech, then the AI's goals and values will be aligned with the goals and values of Google, Facebook et al. Giving those companies a monopoly on AI alignment is antithetical to democracy.

That is one of the most frightening things I have read this month. I think you're absolutely right. And as you say, it's a huge problem.

In this time period, there are many people who are eager to cause mass suffering, murder, sabotage, and dissolution of civilization. With advances in technological organization, there is an increasing potential for coordinated autonomous attacks against infrastructure, essential services, groups, and individual persons in multiple theaters concurrently.

It would be neigh impossible to defend against 100k flying drones wielding cow-knockers programmed to swarm, loiter, break windows, and kill humans. Such could be dispensed by purpose-built intermodal containers, moved by ordinary freight logistics to attack multiple population centers in a simultaneous attack.

Code and binaries are shipped to 10's of millions of servers by internal configuration management tools. Take Meta, Google, or Microsoft and turn them into AI exploit and worm fabrication at scale. While it may happen for only an hour or 2, there's quite a bit that could happen and the possibility of advanced persistent threats is real.

Target a demographic to alter their filter bubble to persuade them to engage in mass-casualty terrorism.

Hate group applies AI to create a designer virus lethal to particular a demographic.

Subtly disable water treatment facilities with an autonomous, stuxnet-like attack.