AI Doomerism: Intelligence Is Not Enough -- “The lack of arms and legs becomes really load-bearing when you want to kill all humans.”
Bryan Cantrill on AI Doomerism: Intelligence Is Not Enough
He says as he conveniently ignores the existence of Boston Dynamics.
What happens in the scenario where a super-intelligence just uses social engineering and a human is his arms and legs?
I loved Eagle Eye when it came out, I was 10(?). I never ever see it get mentioned though, maybe it doesn't hold up idrk but the concept is great and shows exactly how that could happen
Honest question, is this Eagle Eye? https://sh.itjust.works/post/10786110
They're calling it EagleAI
This is the dumbest take. Humans have a lot of needs and the AI will likely have considerable control over them.
I would argue society would come to near-collapse with just the internet shut down. If we are talking about no power grid, then anarchy and millions dead in just a few days. Or Mr. AI could display fabricated system data to nuclear power plant operators, blackmail some idiot with their nude photos to give up rocket launch codes, or crash the financial markets with a flood of fake news. I am no way a doomer, but these are logically explainable scenarios utilizing existing tools, the missing link is an AGI who is capable and intends to orchestrate these.
I think a sufficient "Doom Scenario" would be an AI that is widespread and capable enough to poison the well of knowledge we ask it to regurgitate back at us out of laziness.
That's pretty much social media today.
Yep. People believe the no evidence bullshit that reinforces their current mindset spouted online without LLMs being in the mix.
You best start believing in societal collapse stories, cause you're in one.
Who needs arm & leg if you can make the humans kill each other?
Honestly you probably don't even need to exist to do that.
Humans have been trying hard to do that on their own.
What are you talking about? We all live in peace and harmony here.
Gosh, I want to kill my neighbor.
Well, there's a complete lack of imagination for you.
Seriously!
Oh, you've tasked AI with managing banking? K. All bank funds are suddenly corrupted. Oh, you've tasked AI with managing lights at traffic intersections? K, they're all green now. Oh, you've tasked AI with filtering 911 calls to dispachers? K, all real emergencies are on hold until disconnected
I could go on and on and on...
Well, enlighten us.
Social media corruption, blackmail and extortion, attacks on financial exchanges, compromising control systems for infrastructure, altering police records, messing with your taxes, changing prescriptions, changing you to legally dead, draining your bank account.
Given full control over computers some being could easily dump child porn on your personal devices and get a SWAT team to come out. That is just you, I am sure you have family and friends. So yeah you will do what that being says which includes giving it more power
Meanwhile, the power grid, traffic controls, and myriad infrastructure & adjacent internet-connected software will be using AI, if not already.
You have a very high opinion of the level of technology running power grids, traffic systems and other infrastructure in most parts of the world.
I'm pretty sure all of the things you listed run on Pentium 4s.
None of which can be used to "kill all humans."
Kill a bunch of humans, sure. After which the AI will be shut down and unable to kill any more, and next time we build systems like that we'll be more cautious.
I find it a very common mistake in these sorts of discussions to blend together "kills a bunch of people" or even "destroys civilization" with "kills literally everyone everywhere, forever." These are two wildly different sorts of things and the latter is just not plausible without assuming all kinds of magical abilities.
After which the AI will be shut down and unable to kill any more, and next time we build systems like that we’ll be more cautious.
I think that's an overly simplistic assumption if you're dealing with advanced A(G)I systems. Here's a couple Computerphile videos that discuss potential problems with building in stop buttons: AI "Stop Button" Problem (Piped mirror) and Stop Button Solution? (Piped mirror).
Both videos are from ~6 years ago so maybe there's been conclusive solutions proposed since then that I'm unaware of.
There will be more than enough humans willing to help AI kill the others first, before realizing that "kill all humans" actually meant "kill all humans".
Still need humans for that sweet, sweet maintenance.
Temporarily.
"Bayesian analysis"? What the heck has this got to do with Bayesian analysis? Does this guy have an intelligence, artificial or otherwise?
Big word make sound smart
It's likely a reference to Yudkowsky or someone along those lines. I don't follow that crowd.
He's referring to the fact that the Effective Altruism / Less Wrong crowd seems to be focused almost entirely on preventing an AI apocalypse at some point in the future, and they use a lot of obscure math and logic to explain why it's much more important than dealing with war, homelessness, climate change, or any of the other issues that are causing actual humans to suffer today or are 100% certain to cause suffering in the near future.
Thank you for the explanation! – it puts that sentence into perspective. I think he put it in a somewhat unfortunate and easily misunderstood way.
It’s hard to say for sure. He might.
AI companies: "so what you're saying is we should build a killbot that runs on ChatGPT?"
"We're not going to do that...
...because we already did!"
-Also AI companies probably
excited stock exchange noises
If an AI was sufficiently advanced, it could manipulate the stock market to gain a lot of wealth real fast under a corporation with falsified documents, then pay Chinese fab house to kick off the war machine.
Not really. There's no real way to manipulate other traders and they all use algorithms too. It's people monitoring algorithms doing most of the trading. At best, AI would be slightly faster at noticing patterns and send a note to a person who tweaks the algorithm.
People who don't invest forget: there has to be someone else on the other side of your trade willing to buy/sell. Like how do you think AI could manipulate housing prices? That's just stocks, but slower.
On the one hand, yes. But on the other hand when a price hits a low there will (because it's a prerequisite for the low to happen) be people selling market to the bottom. On a high there will be people buying market to the top. And they'll be doing it in big numbers as well as small.
Yes, most of the movements are caused by algorithms, no doubt. But as the price moves you'll find buyer and seller matches right up to hitting the extremes.
AI done well could in theory both learn how to capitalise on these extremes by making smart trades faster, but also know how to trick algorithms and bait humans with their trades. That is, acting like a human with knowledge of the entire history to pattern match and acting in microseconds.
There’s no way to manipulate other traders? How could that possibly be true?
doesn't take a lot to imagine a scenario in which a lot of people die due to information manipulation or the purposeful disabling of safety systems. doesn't take a lot to imagine a scenario where a superintelligent AI manipulates people into being its arms and legs (babe, wake up, new conspiracy theory just dropped - roko is an AI playing the long game and the basilisk is actually a recruiting tool). doesn't take a lot to imagine an AI that's capable of seizing control of a lot of the world's weapons and either guiding them itself or taking advantage of onboard guidance to turn them against their owners, or using targeted strikes to provoke a war (this is a sub-idea of manipulating people into being its arms and legs). doesn't take a lot to imagine an AI that's capable of purposefully sabotaging the manufacture of food or medicine in such a way that it kills a lot of people before detection. doesn't take a lot to imagine an AI capable of seizing and manipulating our traffic systems in such a way to cause a bunch of accidental deaths and injuries.
But overall my rebuttal is that this AI doom scenario has always hinged on a generalized AI, and that what people currently call "AI" is a long, long way from a generalized AI. So the article is right, ChatGPT can't kill millions of us. Luckily no one was ever proposing that chatGPT could kill millions of us.
Thats a fun thought experiment at least. Is there any way for an AI to gain physical control on its own, within the bounds of software. It can make programs and interact with the web.
Some combination of bank hacking, 3D modeling, and ordering 3D prints delivered gets it close, but i dont know if it can seal the deal without human assistance. Some kind of assembly seems necessary, or at least powering on if it just orders a prebuilt robotic appendage.
inhabiting a boston dynamics robot would probably be the best option
i’d say it could probably use airtasker to get people to unwittingly do assembly of some basic physical form which it could use to build more complex things… i’d probably not count that as “human assistance” per se
inhabiting a boston dynamics robot would probably be the best option
Already been done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzOBZUFzTw
“Hey Timmy, if you solder these components I’ll tell you how to get laid”
I really don't think so. This is 15 years of factory/infrastructure experience here. You are going to need a human to turn a screwdriver somewhere.
I don't think we need to worry about this scenario. Our hypothetical AI can just hire people. It isn't like there would be a shortage of people who have basic assembly skills and would not have a moral problem building what is clearly a killbot. People work for Amazon, Walmart, Boeing, Nestle, Haliburton, Atena, Goldman Sachs, Faceboot, Comcast, etc. And heck even after it is clear what they did it isnt like they are going to feel bad about it. They will just say they needed a job to pay the bills. We can all have an argument about professional integrity in a bunker as drones carrying prions rain down on us.
That, in my mind, is a non-threat. AIs have no motivation; there's no reason for an AI to do any of that.
Unless it's being manipulated by a bad actor who wants to do those things. THAT is the real threat. And we know those bad actors exist and will use any tool at their disposal.