4 ms·

> I believe you can't, at the same time, accuse OpenAI of benefitting of ideas mostly invented elsewhere, and also claim that they are in a predominant position

by ftxbro 4y ago

> I believe you can't, at the same time, accuse OpenAI of benefitting of ideas mostly invented elsewhere, and also claim that they are in a predominant position. There used to be a team at Google called Google Brain and they all left to go to OpenAI after the employee protests against taking military AI contracts in 2018. Now Microsoft has those contracts and funneled $10B to OpenAI from the CIA. OK that's a little bit of exaggeration but not so much; I guess not all employees left, and Google Brain still technically exists. Also some of the brain employees went to other startups not only OpenAI.

beebmam 4y ago
Many of those employees have changed their minds about military contracts in this new cold war era.
- InCityDreams 4y ago
  America! What is in your military now, eventually ends up in the hands of the civilian police. *and other countries are following. Fucking, sadly.
  - sebzim4500 4y ago
    What the hell are they going to do with an M1 Abrams? Having said that, I dread to see what the NYPD manage to achieve with an F-35B.
    - krainboltgreene 4y ago
      Trump tried to convince officials to use tanks to combat the Portland protests while he was president.
- cowl 4y ago
  If I'm not mistaken their opposition was on principle not whether it was needed or not. So the fact that we are in a new cold war era does not change that Equation. The principle is still the same. The only way for this "change of mind" is if their opposition was due to "it's not needed because US has no rivals". Or what most probably happened, they realised that if they want to keep workign on this field there is no escape from those kind of implications and They don't have the big bad wolf Google to blame anymore.
  - jeremyjh 4y ago
    And then Russia invades Ukraine and people change their minds about what is important, and what is possible.
    - cowl 4y ago
      But that's my point. If their opposition was not on principle but based on the naive Idea that "we will live in peace and harmony", I really am afraid what other naive principles are in the bases of their work and what safeguards are being set in place for the AIs.
      - jeremyjh 4y ago
        There is a such thing as being principled and then finding out you were naive.
        mistermann 4y ago
        There is also the substantial effectiveness of propaganda, and the fact that it is essentially impossible to know if one's beliefs/"facts" have been conditioned by it. That most discussions on such matters typically devolve rapidly into the regurgitation of unsound memes doesn't help matters much either.
        sebzim4500 4y ago
        Sure, but it is equally likely that your old perspective was the result of propaganda and your new one is a rational adjustment in the face of new information. Or that both are propaganda, I suppose.
        mistermann 4y ago
        That's the standard loop, but there are ways out.
        cowl 4y ago
- pen2l 4y ago
  When I was a young person, I used to deride writings like 1984 on the grounds that the scenarios and stories presented to carry the message were too far-fetched. Reading your comment has set off an epiphany, I think I get it now, there probably exists some higher-up person who is thinking along these lines: we must always be in a state of war, for if we are, the populace will want to be ready and willing to fund the instruments of war. And we always want to be ready for war, because if ever we are not, we lose our capability to win a potential future war. For our very survival we must contribute our efforts to build these instruments of war. War is constant. War is peace.
  - HyperSane 4y ago
    The more powerful your military is the less likely you will need to use it to defend yourself.
    - MichaelZuo 4y ago
      From near-peer opponents, yes. But it increases the temptation to use it against weaker opponents.
      - HyperSane 4y ago
        Offensive use of a military is a very different thing.
        MichaelZuo 4y ago
        In the real world there are no clear cut boundaries like that so it’s military action either way.
- piuantiderp 4y ago
  Cool, so now they're gonna fight some elites' wars?
FormerBandmate 4y ago
Microsoft doesn’t have $10 billion from the CIA. They’re splitting military cloud contracts with Amazon and other startups, but it’s just the same thing as corporate contracts
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sebzim4500 4y ago
>funneled $10B to OpenAI from the CIA Without some evidence to support it, this really sounds like a conspiracy theory.
- ftxbro 4y ago
  I mean it is a conspiracy theory.
- piuantiderp 4y ago
  He did not mean it literally. Jeez.
0xDEF 4y ago
>There used to be a team at Google called Google Brain and they all left to go to OpenAI after the employee protests against taking military AI contracts in 2018. This is blatant revisionism. Military contracts is not the reason Google has been losing AI researchers to OpenAI.

by ftxbro 4y ago

beebmam 4y ago

Many of those employees have changed their minds about military contracts in this new cold war era.

InCityDreams 4y ago
America! What is in your military now, eventually ends up in the hands of the civilian police. *and other countries are following. Fucking, sadly.
- sebzim4500 4y ago
  What the hell are they going to do with an M1 Abrams? Having said that, I dread to see what the NYPD manage to achieve with an F-35B.
  - krainboltgreene 4y ago
    Trump tried to convince officials to use tanks to combat the Portland protests while he was president.
cowl 4y ago
If I'm not mistaken their opposition was on principle not whether it was needed or not. So the fact that we are in a new cold war era does not change that Equation. The principle is still the same. The only way for this "change of mind" is if their opposition was due to "it's not needed because US has no rivals". Or what most probably happened, they realised that if they want to keep workign on this field there is no escape from those kind of implications and They don't have the big bad wolf Google to blame anymore.
- jeremyjh 4y ago
  And then Russia invades Ukraine and people change their minds about what is important, and what is possible.
  - cowl 4y ago
    But that's my point. If their opposition was not on principle but based on the naive Idea that "we will live in peace and harmony", I really am afraid what other naive principles are in the bases of their work and what safeguards are being set in place for the AIs.
    - jeremyjh 4y ago
      There is a such thing as being principled and then finding out you were naive.
      - mistermann 4y ago
        There is also the substantial effectiveness of propaganda, and the fact that it is essentially impossible to know if one's beliefs/"facts" have been conditioned by it. That most discussions on such matters typically devolve rapidly into the regurgitation of unsound memes doesn't help matters much either.
        sebzim4500 4y ago
        Sure, but it is equally likely that your old perspective was the result of propaganda and your new one is a rational adjustment in the face of new information. Or that both are propaganda, I suppose.
        mistermann 4y ago
        That's the standard loop, but there are ways out.
      - cowl 4y ago
pen2l 4y ago
When I was a young person, I used to deride writings like 1984 on the grounds that the scenarios and stories presented to carry the message were too far-fetched. Reading your comment has set off an epiphany, I think I get it now, there probably exists some higher-up person who is thinking along these lines: we must always be in a state of war, for if we are, the populace will want to be ready and willing to fund the instruments of war. And we always want to be ready for war, because if ever we are not, we lose our capability to win a potential future war. For our very survival we must contribute our efforts to build these instruments of war. War is constant. War is peace.
- HyperSane 4y ago
  The more powerful your military is the less likely you will need to use it to defend yourself.
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    From near-peer opponents, yes. But it increases the temptation to use it against weaker opponents.
    - HyperSane 4y ago
      Offensive use of a military is a very different thing.
      - MichaelZuo 4y ago
        In the real world there are no clear cut boundaries like that so it’s military action either way.
piuantiderp 4y ago
Cool, so now they're gonna fight some elites' wars?

FormerBandmate 4y ago

Microsoft doesn’t have $10 billion from the CIA. They’re splitting military cloud contracts with Amazon and other startups, but it’s just the same thing as corporate contracts

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

sebzim4500 4y ago

>funneled $10B to OpenAI from the CIA Without some evidence to support it, this really sounds like a conspiracy theory.

ftxbro 4y ago
I mean it is a conspiracy theory.
piuantiderp 4y ago
He did not mean it literally. Jeez.

0xDEF 4y ago

>There used to be a team at Google called Google Brain and they all left to go to OpenAI after the employee protests against taking military AI contracts in 2018. This is blatant revisionism. Military contracts is not the reason Google has been losing AI researchers to OpenAI.