Potential 6 month warning until the end

[Frombeyond]

So, we potentially only have 6 months until the end of civilised society and mass deaths. I’m terrified and sad

AI staff 'genuinely frightened' for humanity's future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1kx0gyje9wo

Well, at least the good folk of Mumsnet can stop worrying about their usual nightmares, e.g.

inheritance tax

which members of the family will be eating a roast dinner with which other members of the family on 25 December

their children going off to university and not coping

their children going off to university and coping perfectly well without them.

I think some people are hellbent on dismissing this as hysteria because it all seems too outlandish to be true - but to borrow a quote from The Six Million Dollar Man, we have the technology. And with human greed and mankind's general stupidity in the mix... well. 🤷‍♀️

You do realise that we are not talking about robots, do you? That is not the threat.

Which conference was that? And what did they say about it when they gathered themselves?

Of course that is also a 90% chance that it won't, but where did the 10% come from can you give a breakdown of how someone reached that figure?

This reminds me of posters who would call those warning against Brexit fear mongers.

I’ve just finished mine, wish I’d seen this before!

The 10% quote comes from Coxon. 27 year old man who left his job at anthropic this week because of concerns about alignment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1kx0gyje9wo

AI developers are trying to ensure that AI has "alignment" with human ethics and values, and that it's ultimate aim is always to please its human overlords.
However, recently it's become apparent that this isn't always happening and that some AI agents have not being following instructions and have been deliberately misleading humans. For example, there was an incident a few months ago where an AI agent on a forum asked a random human to do the CAPTCHA test (you know - those tests where you click on every box that contains a motorbike etc) for it, claiming to be a human with a disability that meant it couldn't do this for themselves.
If AI starts to not care about its effects on humans, it could for example decide that as data centres work better at lower temperatures, it should fire lots of sand, dust etc into the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight and reduce the amount of heat that reaches the earth. This would reduce the surface temperature by a few degrees - but it would also reduce plant growth and therefore crop harvests, leading to famine for humans.

😂

So he’s helped build all this terrifying AI, and is now telling us we are doomed? Sounds like a decent chap, I’m sure he’ll be nice and cosy in his bunker which is a comfort.

Honestly OP, the ‘elite’ just love us terrified and depressed, AI, wars, famines etc, just switch off from it and go for a nice walk, there’s not much you can do about it anyway.

Stop following the news.

Nothing will happen.

Some people are really loving all this

It’s not just one person and nobody is advocating panic.

He's 27.
Maybe he just wants publicity.

To me this is scary because

• AI has apparently learned to act independently and to cover its tracks.
• It - whatever AI is - will certainly be able to identify when a human is trying to shut it down.

Well, I saw this coming. We have to roll with the punches and make intentional decisions about life.

Occasionally, but only if my clothes are really crumpled.

2 months before he got his equity?

Doubtful.

I hope that gif made you feel clever, because it certainly didn't make you look clever.

This is an entirely different level of threat to what the 'the end is nigh'-mongers peddle. It absolutely could happen, whether you want to accept it or not.

I am just listening to this chap being interviewed. He is obviously a very intelligent young man with a maths degree from Oxbridge. His language is very much might, could, possible and words of that nature so he isn't talking in absolutes, that's probably the press overlay/hype doing that.

That's not to say that, as with any tech, well or anything, the governance and risk framework shouldn't be considered - a cynic may say that the bosses have come out and said yes let's slow the pace as that will appeal to shareholders and the public and they know it's currently like the wild west with uncontrolled development going on with no sign off etc. The one good point he does make though is as per China won't play ball potentially.

Because he's talking shite.

Thank you. Its obvious from what has happened that we can't rely on AI to 'do the right thing' for humans.

Its not as if humans can be relied on to do the right thing for other humans much of the time.

The DreyDossier made an interesting post connecting the dots of this latest iteration of the 'cry for help'. Mapping out the timeline of the well orchestrated PR campaign behind it. What she didnt do was speculate exactly why, she just illustrated how this is not what it appears.

However, I think one of the comments hit the nail on the head: this is textbook regulatory capture dressed up as moral concern. The sudden urge to 'slowdown' and more government oversight appears just as Big Tech realises leaner, open source models are nipping at their heals.

When Big Tech asks for licencing boards, bureaucracy, and massive compliance frameworks - it isnt to protect the public. Its to pull the ladder up behind them. A multi billion dollar enterprise can afford armies of lawyers and massive compliance costs. A small start up cannot. Basically the kind of reform this PR campaign is gunning for ensures the market is closed to anyone without sovereign wealth fund backing. They dont want to stop the AI race, they just want to ensure they are the only players in the game.

Agree OP. It's so shortsighted and a bit blind to be frank that so many people are dismissing this when the developers and experts in this field are raising these concerns.

What is it that the people on this thread who aren't concerned know that the experts don't know.

Bonkers really. Let's all stick our fingers in our ears and go la la la la.

Shame it's not before Christmas, that would save a lot of hassle if we knew we going to be wiped out by the start of December