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It would be remarkably easy to be cynical about this. I mean, it takes only an instant to come up with a snarky comment that superficially would seem very cleve

by cs702 4y ago

It would be remarkably easy to be cynical about this. I mean, it takes only an instant to come up with a snarky comment that superficially would seem very clever... but in reality wouldn't actually contribute to making things better. So... I'm not going to be cynical. Instead, I'm going to applaud the folks at OpenAI for putting out this carefully drafted statement -- dare I say it, in the open. They know they're exposing themselves to criticism. They know their hands are tied to some degree by business imperatives. They're neither naive nor stupid. It's evident they're taking safety seriously. This official statement is, in my view, a first step in the right direction :-)

japhyr 4y ago
One thing OpenAI has said publicly is that AI should be rolled out incrementally, to give people time to make sense of it, and see what we all do with it. It's tempted to cynically look at that as thinly veiled marketing, but even if it has some nice marketing effects, I believe there's a core of sincerity there. These are clearly systems that a single team can't fully evaluate. Also, watching how all of this has played out, it seems quite apparent that holding onto these models even longer and then unleashing an even more capable system on the world seems like a much worse approach. It is wild though, to take a step back and wonder if we're watching the rapid approach of one of our species' great filters. I hope we make it through.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  Personally, I don't even remotely think that these systems pose such a dire threat. Instead, I think the threat is widespread social unrest and a significant increase in global poverty and suffering. All of the problems that I think are realistic are social problems. This is why I'm deeply concerned at the reckless pace that these things are coming out. Social problems take time to sort out. People need some space to contextualize this stuff, and to perhaps begin to form ways of coping that will minimize the disruption.
JohnFen 4y ago
> Instead, I'm going to applaud the folks at OpenAI for putting out this carefully drafted statement They had no other choice. They're at risk of having public opinion go solidly against them. This is part of a PR effort to prevent that from happening.

by cs702 4y ago

japhyr 4y ago

One thing OpenAI has said publicly is that AI should be rolled out incrementally, to give people time to make sense of it, and see what we all do with it. It's tempted to cynically look at that as thinly veiled marketing, but even if it has some nice marketing effects, I believe there's a core of sincerity there. These are clearly systems that a single team can't fully evaluate. Also, watching how all of this has played out, it seems quite apparent that holding onto these models even longer and then unleashing an even more capable system on the world seems like a much worse approach. It is wild though, to take a step back and wonder if we're watching the rapid approach of one of our species' great filters. I hope we make it through.

JohnFen 4y ago
Personally, I don't even remotely think that these systems pose such a dire threat. Instead, I think the threat is widespread social unrest and a significant increase in global poverty and suffering. All of the problems that I think are realistic are social problems. This is why I'm deeply concerned at the reckless pace that these things are coming out. Social problems take time to sort out. People need some space to contextualize this stuff, and to perhaps begin to form ways of coping that will minimize the disruption.

JohnFen 4y ago

> Instead, I'm going to applaud the folks at OpenAI for putting out this carefully drafted statement They had no other choice. They're at risk of having public opinion go solidly against them. This is part of a PR effort to prevent that from happening.