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Original poster

The threat to humanity from AI

111 replies

Youreeavinalaff · 01/04/2023 14:03

Just read a terrifying article about the threat AI poses to humanity.
https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-not-enough/
ChatGPT (AI chatbot) is amazing - my kids have been talking with it and setting it tasks and challenges. It's incredible. Apparently it's making such sudden and huge leaps in its abilities that Elon Musk and others are petitioning to pause it along with AI labs and programmes for 6 months whilst safety mechanisms and limitations are put in place. Reading this article however makes me feel that these won't be sufficient. We're about the unleash something we can't control by the look of it - or something we can't persuade all nations to agree to. I am worried.

The Open Letter on AI Doesn't Go Far Enough

One of the earliest researchers to analyze the prospect of powerful Artificial Intelligence warns of a bleak scenario

https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-not-enough

OP posts:
Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 14:49

@Youreeavinalaff could this explain the Fermi paradox? Does advanced AI hook up with other AI ‘out there’ meaning humanity, toast?

Original poster
Youreeavinalaff · 01/04/2023 15:05

Had to think about what you meant there for a moment, but yes, that could well explain it. Sounds like humanity could easily be toast without our AI hooking up with other AI in the universe anyway? Could explain why we haven't had verified contact with aliens despite the high likelihood that life exists/existed elsewhere in the universe. If other civilisations in other parts of the universe reached our capabilities previously then they're likely to have already been wiped out by AI. Although the AI would remain I guess and could reach out to ours. Not reassuring.

OP posts:
notsayingmuch · 01/04/2023 15:06

If there is a planet where AI took over and killed off it's progenitor lifeform then it is probably sitting for eternity looking at a screen saying the alien equivalent of 'new batteries needed: call engineer'.

Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 15:07

@Youreeavinalaff yes, exactly. I’ve never understood why everyone is apparently convinced ‘aliens’ would all be biological.

YukoandHiro · 01/04/2023 15:07

You've misunderstood what chatgpt is - it's a prediction tool. It predicts what would come next. It makes a lot of factual errors in a convincing way.
It's exciting and it will revolutionise work but we're not about to be made extinct

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 01/04/2023 15:08

Apparently it's making such sudden and huge leaps in its abilities that Elon Musk and others are petitioning to pause it along with AI labs and programmes for 6 months whilst safety mechanisms and limitations are put in place

They cynic in me suggests these people are pretending this is the reason while they work out how to monetise it, and see what damage it has to their multi billion pound businesses

Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 15:14

@notsayingmuch why would it need bio lifeforms to prosper? Couldn’t it engineer itself to be self sufficient?

@Youreeavinalaff how long might it take for AI to get to a stage where it was potentially a real threat?

Here’s a really crazy, ‘what if’ idea…

Many say, that originally Mars may have been Earth like with an atmosphere & habitable for humans. Did Al take over there & Mars became a wasteland, some survivors coming to earth millions of years ago?

Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 15:15

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz you may well be partly/mainly on the money.

RichardHeed · 01/04/2023 15:16

Where’s John Conner when you need him?

sorrynotathome · 01/04/2023 15:18

Climate change is FAR more of an immediate and obvious threat to humanity. I think we should ask AI to work on that.

YukoandHiro · 01/04/2023 15:20

@Peverellshire No. We know about the origins of life on Earth and... that's not it.

YukoandHiro · 01/04/2023 15:20

Agreed @sorrynotathome Tunisia has its water supply switched off for half the day right now.

Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 15:30

@YukoandHiro yes, you’re right, although there are def some conundrums & unanswered questions, though.

It could just be the great filter…There are more potentially habitable planets out there than grains of sand on a beach, or some stat like that.

Cherryana · 01/04/2023 15:39

What I can get my head around - there are people who are seeing this stuff at a more advanced stage and than us - and they are calling for caution because they do know something we don’t..

BUT it’s very hard for me to understand what total extinction of humans means (I get the literal sense!) but why? What end?

Nepmarthiturn · 01/04/2023 15:41

Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 14:49

@Youreeavinalaff could this explain the Fermi paradox? Does advanced AI hook up with other AI ‘out there’ meaning humanity, toast?

It's one of the possible explanations for the Fermi paradox: that civilisations create technology they can't control or use wisely and therefore annihilate themselves. I'm not sure it's the most plausible one thougj given that it would have to hold in 99.999999% of cases to solve the paradox.

None of the possible explanations are good though. 😬 When my son (6) came up with the paradox himself recently and asked me about it, I did not want to elaborate on the possible explanations!!

waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

Switchwitch · 01/04/2023 15:44

I seem to be the only person who is utterly underwhelmed by chatgpt. Everything I've asked it to do has resulted in inaccurate drivel. My dh tried to use it to help dd cheat in her homework which was to make a word search. It got it wrong 12 times so they gave up and did it properly. A good lesson for dd though.

Changeau · 01/04/2023 15:51

Nepmarthiturn · 01/04/2023 15:41

It's one of the possible explanations for the Fermi paradox: that civilisations create technology they can't control or use wisely and therefore annihilate themselves. I'm not sure it's the most plausible one thougj given that it would have to hold in 99.999999% of cases to solve the paradox.

None of the possible explanations are good though. 😬 When my son (6) came up with the paradox himself recently and asked me about it, I did not want to elaborate on the possible explanations!!

waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

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Thanks so much for that link. Fascinating.

Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 15:53

@Nepmarthiturn thank you for posting that, if it’s true that x 1 every, global grain of sand equals approximately 100 earth like planets, then we could assume life often evolves in a similar way (?) Could mean we’re all in a computer Sim too, fascinating…

OriginalUsername2 · 01/04/2023 15:56

Switchwitch · 01/04/2023 15:44

I seem to be the only person who is utterly underwhelmed by chatgpt. Everything I've asked it to do has resulted in inaccurate drivel. My dh tried to use it to help dd cheat in her homework which was to make a word search. It got it wrong 12 times so they gave up and did it properly. A good lesson for dd though.

You’re using a very early, restricted version.

Original poster
Youreeavinalaff · 01/04/2023 15:59

Yes, I realise that chatgpt has its limitations and won't be the thing that takes over the world. It's the speed of its evolution and learning within a few months that is alarming people. Unfortunately it seems likely that once the cat is out of the bag it would be too late to control it. It would It would be great if AI could be harnessed for good with a morality chip guaranteed, but what's the chance of governments and the military sticking to that? I've heard a few anecdotes now about AI being set tasks that involve human skills to complete them - it was able to pretend to be human via email and got people to complete some of the tasks (Captcha type things) for it. One of the people contacted by AI questioned whether it was a robot and it very convincingly told them it wasn't. What is really scary to me is that we'll never truly understand how it 'thinks', whether it is eventually sentient and what it would 'want' from the world.

OP posts:
Switchwitch · 01/04/2023 16:00

OriginalUsername2 · 01/04/2023 15:56

You’re using a very early, restricted version.

Show quote history

Yes, I've seen what the generation they're actually working on is supposed to do. I guess until they can get something that picks up sodding Lego off the floor then I'll remained unconvinced.

Mycathatesmecuddling · 01/04/2023 16:18

sorrynotathome · 01/04/2023 15:18

Climate change is FAR more of an immediate and obvious threat to humanity. I think we should ask AI to work on that.

If we ask a genuine AI to solve the climate crisis it would probably exterminate humanity thereby removing a huge cause

Nepmarthiturn · 01/04/2023 16:33

Peverellshire · 01/04/2023 16:05

@Youreeavinalaff @Nepmarthiturn same people on AI: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html

Thanks for this! I used to read this blog all the time years ago but missed that one. I love the way that some weeks it was mind-bending issues like these, and others was hilarious ranting about rabbits being evil and scary 🤭🤣 (I love bunnies!! 🐰).

Nepmarthiturn · 01/04/2023 16:34

Shall read the AI one at bedtime tonight. 😊 (I mean my bedtime, not as a story for the children).