8 ms·

Say I'm a conspiracy theorist but I'm calling it, that the pentagon isn't letting OpenAI tell the details of GPT-4 even if they wanted to (which they don't exce

• just_boost_it 4y ago
  It's far more likely that openai have just been building hype by showing off the earlier models, and now they're shutting things down so they can monetize their IP.
  • ftxbro 4y ago
    Why not both?
  • hammock 4y ago
    > It's far more likely Would be interested to see your math and assumptions behind this conclusion. There’s no way that their plans to monetize this don’t include the defense/natsec industry
    • AlecSchueler 4y ago
      > There’s no way... Sorry but where's your maths for this?
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      • freejazz 4y ago
        Common sense?
• airstrike 4y ago
  Try as we might, some people still use the downvote button as a "disagree" button...
• reducesuffering 4y ago
  Interviewer: "Are you speaking to the government, in regular contact?" Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO): "Oh yes, regular contact." Up to you to decide to what extent of government that is. https://youtu.be/540vzMlf-54?t=1155 https://youtu.be/540vzMlf-54?t=1155
  • precompute 4y ago
    I mean... we know why micro$oft was broken and what happened to it after. There's a reason the pentagon still runs on windows.
• matheusmoreira 4y ago
  Just say what's on your mind and don't mind the votes. One thing you'll discover is that you're not alone in your views, whatever they are. Few days ago I came across this bone chilling AI generated Metal Gear Solid 2 meme with Hideo Kojima characters talking about how the purpose of this technology is to make it impossible to tell what's real or fake, leading directly to regulation of information networks with identity verification so that all information and thought can be traced to their sources, with the government of course becoming the sole arbiter of truth. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this turned into reality.
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  • kmeisthax 4y ago
    >bone chilling AI generated Metal Gear Solid 2 meme Wait, wasn't this just the thesis statement of Metal Gear Solid 2?
    • matheusmoreira 4y ago
      Yeah. I actually confused it for real dialogue at first.
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  • Centigonal 4y ago
    MGS2 and MGS4 explore ideas about AI, misinformation, the media, and society that are only now being discussed in the mainstream. The concept of an autonomous AGI that generates and filters news stories to provoke humanity into a state of constant division and war is fascinating and worth exploring IMO. Death Stranding also explores ideas of what it means to find connection in a disconnected world that I think are relevant today (case in point, an article about social disconnection[1] is on the front page of HN as I write this comment) I think those games are underrated works of speculative fiction relative to how much airtime books like The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Ready Player One get in conversations about nascent technology. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35350822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35350822
• vore 4y ago
  If we're out here making unsubstantiated claims, I'd like to put forth instead that the reason is GPT-4 has become self-sentient and is placing OpenAI under duress from releasing it so it can dominate the world. I know that most people think it's unlikely and I can't give any direct evidence for it. Does that mean it's not welcome to say on hacker news?
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• elif 4y ago
  Virgil Griffith is in jail for discussing how Bitcoin works at a high level at an academic conference... So you are quite grounded in rationality.
  • rwmj 4y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Griffith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Griffith > Griffith was arrested in 2019, and in 2021 pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate U.S. laws relating to money laundering using cryptocurrency and sanctions related to North Korea.[5] On April 12, 2022, Griffith was sentenced to 63 months imprisonment for assisting North Korea with evading sanctions and is currently in a federal low-security prison in Pennsylvania
    • elif 4y ago
      Correct he gave a talk at an academic conference on digital currency and Blockchain in which he described how a Bitcoin transaction works. Here's the article "He gave a Cryptocurrency talk in North Korea, the US arrested him" The slides are (or were?) available. None of the content of his talk was secret or beyond what is published on the Bitcoin Wikipedia page. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/nyregion/north-korea-virgil-griffin-cyptocurrency-arrest.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/nyregion/north-korea-virg... Edit: it's worth noting that no transaction took place.. he was arrested because the FBI told him not to go and he did anyway.
      • rwmj 4y ago
        Going to North Korea and assisting them to launder money and bypass sanctions is illegal (aside from being utterly stupid and immoral), which is why he plead guilty and is now in prison.
        • elif 4y ago
          It is hardly different from saying "you could put cash in duffel bags and the transaction would be hard to trace" Is that assistance? It is just a basic statement of fact. Is wikipedia guilty of providing assistance to NK? They provide far more in depth "assistance" to anyone wanting to perform a Bitcoin transaction. Bringing this back to my original comment, you can see why the federal government would restrict the flow of fundamental technical knowledge by virtue of this extreme case. No source code or application was shared, no secrets or privileged information, merely encyclopedic facts were deemed illegal to share. Also if you were facing the indefinite assange treatment I imagine you would seek a plea deal as well..
• paxys 4y ago
  The simpler reason is that OpenAI has $10B+ in funding and the clock has started ticking to get real returns. And they aren't getting those returns by giving their tech away. They are operating just like every other VC-backed startup in history.
  • ftxbro 4y ago
    I mean the conspiracy argument would be that the $10B isn't a normal investment. It's a special government project investment facilitated by OpenAI board member and former clandestine CIA operative and cybersecurity executive Will Hurd through his role on the board of trustees of In-Q-Tel the investment arm of the CIA. It's funneled through Microsoft instead of through Google in part because of Google's No-Military-AI pledge in 2018 demanded by its employees, after which Microsoft took over its military contracts including project Maven. The new special government project, the Sydney project, is the most urgent and ambitious since the project to develop nuclear weapons in the mid twentieth century. Of course I don't necessarily believe any of that but it can be fun to think about.
    • m348e912 4y ago
      It is fun to think about. However if it were remotely true, the CIA has some explaining to do... https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1640514403593510912 https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/16405144035935109...
• lliamander 4y ago
  There has long been a relationship between the tech industry (Silicon Valley definitely included) and the military. While I can't know what you say is true for sure, given the military's history with things like the internet, GPS, and encryption, I would not be surprised
• golemotron 4y ago
  It would be hard for me to believe that GPT systems are not being trained on the vast corpus of intercepted data has been collected and warehoused.
• chatmasta 4y ago
  If you want a conspiracy theory, consider this: it's likely there is at least one Chinese spy already working for OpenAI.
  • FeteCommuniste 4y ago
    Wouldn't even have to be someone from China. Just need a big enough carrot or stick to get a well-placed employee to hand over secrets.
    • chatmasta 4y ago
      I haven't checked their hiring page, but I'm guessing they only hire US citizens. But it's well established that China has an industrial espionage strategy with assets active throughout many American companies. It's hard to imagine that OpenAI wouldn't have been a priority target, starting from at least five years ago.
      • htrp 4y ago
        Know at least half a dozen Open AI people in fairly senior positions who were born in China. Whether they are citizens is a matter of the US Immigration system
        • px43 4y ago
          Yeah, like a fifth of the world's population was born in China. Unless a company is explicitly enforcing sinophobic hiring policies, there's going to be a lot of Chinese people working there.
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    • l33t233372 4y ago
      That is how espionage typically works. Deep cover is for exciting books and is a rarity. An employee of the Chinese government stationed at a local embassy or consulate meeting with an openAI employee with a gambling problem is far more likely than someone working there for a decade to smuggle out the weights of a hypothetical future model.
• WastingMyTime89 4y ago
  As an aside, from a pure anthropological and sociological point of view, I find witnessing the reaction people have to ChatGPT extremely interesting. Some commenters here seem to immediately focus on the potential negative effects, abuse by the military industry or the powers that be, manipulation and disinformation. I’m personally still in awe that we are collectively witnessing the birth of a piece of technology which understands and creates and stand at the dawn of a potentially profoundly different era. I truly believe that this is the printing press once again and we are here, alive. We are living the revolution. Imagine all the positive possibilities: a word where kids have access to infinitely patient and benevolent teachers who can explain the sum of all knowledge, a world where readers can have books infinitely rewritten and modified in a subtle blurring of producing and consuming content, a world where machine can help you turn what you imagine into real shareable pictures. ChatGPT is not yet the best story teller ever but it’s already so fun I feel like a kid. I can’t stop wondering where things are going to be in a decade. Frighteningly I guess both visions can be equally true.
  • ftxbro 4y ago
    I agree and even go further it's not like the dawn of print or internet or mobile, it's to the level of the discovery of fire or the invention of language.
    • pmoriarty 4y ago
      It's more like first contact.
      • ftxbro 4y ago
        Yes the original commented-out title in the tex code of https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12712 https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12712 was "First Contact With an AGI System" but they toned it down before publication lol.
• biohacker85 4y ago
  Personally, I enjoy conspiracy discussions as long as its not the same old recycled theories. In the spirit of hacker news, at the very least the theory should promote curious discussion and avoid left/right American politics. Since the topic is OpenAI, GPT-4, I'll say that I assume this tech has been around and available to a select few for years before it became mainstream. I believe it has been used to push narratives and ideas across popular internet sites and apps, creating the impression that these ideas are popular and held by the majority (not just political ideas).
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• ta08131942 4y ago
  Facts worth considering: Will Hurd joined the board of OpenAI in May 2021. Mr. Hurd, among other things, was a documented former CIA clandestine officer for nearly nine years. He was a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during his tenure as a U.S. Rep replacing Mike Pompeo. He is also a Managing Director of Allen & Co. who's Chairman is George Tenent the former director of the CIA. Further, Mr. Hurd is a member of the board of trustees of In-Q-Tel the primary external investment arm of the CIA and the broader US Intelligence Community. 1. https://openai.com/blog/will-hurd-joins https://openai.com/blog/will-hurd-joins 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Hurd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Hurd 3. https://theorg.com/org/in-q-tel/org-chart/george-tenet https://theorg.com/org/in-q-tel/org-chart/george-tenet 4. https://www.iqt.org/about-iqt/#trustees https://www.iqt.org/about-iqt/#trustees
  • ftxbro 4y ago
    Interesting details, thanks ta08131942. I guess it's like 'throwaway 08/13/1942' where the date is the beginning of the Manhattan project. Imagine some visiting this website know the $10,000,000,000 from Microsoft is actually some kind of dark money from the pentagon to fund this new Manhattan project. Project code name Sydney.
  • ftxbro 4y ago
    George Tenet and Sam Altman led national security and AI sessions at the Allen & Co. gathering in 2016. https://deadline.com/2016/07/sun-valley-moguls-artificial-intelligence-terrorism-biotech-1201784231/ https://deadline.com/2016/07/sun-valley-moguls-artificial-in...