4 ms·

The problem with developing AI is the potential power it has to oppress. Think of the AI China is deploying in Xinjiang. Maybe inclusiveness is a safeguard agai

The problem with developing AI is the potential power it has to oppress. Think of the AI China is deploying in Xinjiang. Maybe inclusiveness is a safeguard against AI being used for oppression, but it makes me think of Peter Thiel's quote "AI is the technology supporting dictatorships, blockchain is the technology supporting libertarian government"(paraphrasing). With easy to use open-source AI platforms like the ones Jeff Dean helped create. I think we really need to be concerned about the use cases.

Barrin92 6y ago
That view of Thiel is common but also very wrong. Decentralisation is just as useful of a tool in the hand of dictatorships as centralising technologies, and funnily enough China has actually extended power over its population using both. it's no accident that Xi himself is heavily pushing for China to dominate the blockchain space[1]. On the currency level it gives China autonomy and freedom from the dollar, which like the Pedro, is a pretty trivial case how dictators can use decentralisation, by avoiding international ties and creating completely sovereign spaces. (the same way individual bad actors can use crypto for harmful activity). The second one is in the radical transparency that blockchain offers by having a complete history of every transaction, undeletable out in the open. For a dictatorship, that's the best thing ever. It's a complete inversion of traditional privacy, where one connection between user and wallet can expose everyone. In the political space this is obviously true too. Since the 80s China has radically decentralised. By some measures the case can be made it's the most decentralised country on the planet. But it's no less authoritarian. Centralized power is strong but also accountable and blind to detail. Decentralised power is haptic, it gets into every little corner, and it doesn't even require a specific actor. [1]https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/china-looks-to-become-blockchain-world-leader-with-xi-jinping-backing.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/china-looks-to-become-blockc...
- mips_avatar 6y ago
  So maybe a more accurate description is every technology can be used for oppression?

Barrin92 6y ago

That view of Thiel is common but also very wrong. Decentralisation is just as useful of a tool in the hand of dictatorships as centralising technologies, and funnily enough China has actually extended power over its population using both. it's no accident that Xi himself is heavily pushing for China to dominate the blockchain space[1]. On the currency level it gives China autonomy and freedom from the dollar, which like the Pedro, is a pretty trivial case how dictators can use decentralisation, by avoiding international ties and creating completely sovereign spaces. (the same way individual bad actors can use crypto for harmful activity). The second one is in the radical transparency that blockchain offers by having a complete history of every transaction, undeletable out in the open. For a dictatorship, that's the best thing ever. It's a complete inversion of traditional privacy, where one connection between user and wallet can expose everyone. In the political space this is obviously true too. Since the 80s China has radically decentralised. By some measures the case can be made it's the most decentralised country on the planet. But it's no less authoritarian. Centralized power is strong but also accountable and blind to detail. Decentralised power is haptic, it gets into every little corner, and it doesn't even require a specific actor. [1]https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/china-looks-to-become-blockchain-world-leader-with-xi-jinping-backing.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/china-looks-to-become-blockc...

mips_avatar 6y ago
So maybe a more accurate description is every technology can be used for oppression?