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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:

Morestrangerthings · 03/05/2023 05:56

MobilityCat · 30/04/2023 09:20

People glued to their phones as they go about are the rise of the Phone Zombies.

Show quote history

Sounds dangerous for the child. Obviously.

But in many cases 'mum' (always mum), is actually working and the phone is an extension of her office/job. She's actually doing two jobs. The one she's paid for, and the one she is not paid for. It's the result of expecting people to work very long hours for what is actually less money.

Chatillon · 03/05/2023 06:09

Interesting that there are two threads going on within this one. There are those posters trying to rationalise only Chat GBT. Then there are those who are trying to rationalise AI, the Fermi Paradox and the very real prospect of all life forms being eradicated by an AI created organism (or even just a process) within a short few decades.

Unfortunately, now is a time when everybody needs to understand the real implications of where AI could go. We may soon be fighting wars against nations that try to develop it.

If you are on this thread and have not at least read the OP's linked article, do so.

Mycathatesmecuddling · 03/05/2023 07:31

Chatillon · 03/05/2023 06:09

Unfortunately, now is a time when everybody needs to understand the real implications of where AI could go. We may soon be fighting wars against nations that try to develop it.

If you are on this thread and have not at least read the OP's linked article, do so.

And then there are the posters who think if you plug out your computer that will stop AI...

AfraidToRun · 04/05/2023 05:17

AI in the military is most worrisome to me. Wouldn't take much to create a drone that killed based on things such as race, sex, religion. Whether intentional or otherwise. China already uses robots along its border with India.

Chatillon · 04/05/2023 12:02

@AfraidToRun Or a virus that targeted mainly the elderly and those with health conditions, particularly by a state that had a forecasted 'inverted pyramid', where the future population are forecast to outnumber those in work 2 to 1.

MobilityCat · 05/05/2023 07:09

Microsoft Bing is another danger. time.com/6256529/bing-openai-chatgpt-danger-alignment/

casingchars · 05/05/2023 07:41

The bias in favour of humanity is something that interests me in articles like this. What makes us so great, anyway? Humans are a brutal species and we are polluting our only habitat beyond repair. We are quite, quite mad.

IBlinkThereforeIAm · 06/05/2023 01:50

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.

Bad idea without building in the aforementioned safeguards. For example, when one of the advanced ones was being tested recently it was asked to come up with a solution to make the Earth's oceans less acidic. Its "solution" would have also involved reducing the oxygen levels in the atmosphere to the extent that all humans and other animals suffocated slowly.

IBlinkThereforeIAm · 06/05/2023 01:56

Knickerthief1 · 01/04/2023 21:05

I think it's terrifying too. It's all about when AI reaches the point of singularity - the point where the growth of AI becomes irreversible and we can't control it anymore. There is a man called Kurzwell who works for google. He believes that we will reach singularity in the next 30 years. He has made 147 predictions on technology since the 90's and has had an 86% success rate.

Ray Kurzweil, who wrote "The Singularity is Near" way back when? Didn't realise he was at Google now. Interesting!

Ihatepickingausername3 · 06/05/2023 01:59

If the experts are saying we should pause… then we should definitely pause.

IBlinkThereforeIAm · 06/05/2023 02:17

Another interesting article:

amp.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/05/geoffrey-hinton-godfather-of-ai-fears-for-humanity

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