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Let me give a short list of technologies I wouldn't want accessible to everybody: - Thermonuclear warheads - Designer biological viruses and bacteria - Tools

by blagie 3y ago

Let me give a short list of technologies I wouldn't want accessible to everybody: - Thermonuclear warheads - Designer biological viruses and bacteria - Tools to remotely compromise / brick all computers in the world ... and so on. We don't really know where AI is on the danger scale, and if it's one of the scarier corners, we might not know before it's too late. What this episode did reveal is that whatever checks-and-balances OpenAI has in place are not adequate. It almost gave it's whole business to Microsoft. The board accused the CEO of being less than candid, while it itself was less than candid. OpenAI seriously needs serious, enforceable frameworks for things like transparent governance. The level of opacity here is not okay. At this level, we should all know what's happening inside (whether or not we agree that models can be dangerous, or have access to those models).

Turing_Machine 3y ago
The first two, at least, are already within reach of anyone with sufficient budget. I doubt that there's any entity that's rich enough and wants nukes that doesn't already have them. Even international pariahs like North Korea have them. AFA the second one goes, high school kids are doing genetic engineering in class these days. There's nothing in principle that distinguishes what they do (e.g., inducing resistance to an antibiotic, because that's easy to test) from something extremely nasty (e.g., making it resistant to all known antibiotics).
- blagie 3y ago
  Nukes are not within anyone's reach, or instead of teen suicides and school shootings, we'd have nuclear craters in place of some cities. Most of these people: https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ Could not acquire a nuke. The prevalence of genetic engineering is new, is a species-threatening issue. Unless we figure out how to bring these sorts of superweapons under control, we will be extinct as a species within our children's lifetime.
  - Turing_Machine 3y ago
    > Nukes are not within anyone's reach, or instead of teen suicides and school shootings, we'd have nuclear craters in place of some cities. I didn't say "anyone". I said "anyone who's rich enough", which excludes virtually all "teen suicides" and "school shootings". > Most of these people: https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ Could not acquire a nuke. I disagree. Strongly. If there are people willing to sell nuclear technology to the likes of Kim Jong Un, there are people willing to sell it to the Walton family heirs.

by blagie 3y ago

Turing_Machine 3y ago

The first two, at least, are already within reach of anyone with sufficient budget. I doubt that there's any entity that's rich enough and wants nukes that doesn't already have them. Even international pariahs like North Korea have them. AFA the second one goes, high school kids are doing genetic engineering in class these days. There's nothing in principle that distinguishes what they do (e.g., inducing resistance to an antibiotic, because that's easy to test) from something extremely nasty (e.g., making it resistant to all known antibiotics).

blagie 3y ago
Nukes are not within anyone's reach, or instead of teen suicides and school shootings, we'd have nuclear craters in place of some cities. Most of these people: https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ Could not acquire a nuke. The prevalence of genetic engineering is new, is a species-threatening issue. Unless we figure out how to bring these sorts of superweapons under control, we will be extinct as a species within our children's lifetime.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  > Nukes are not within anyone's reach, or instead of teen suicides and school shootings, we'd have nuclear craters in place of some cities. I didn't say "anyone". I said "anyone who's rich enough", which excludes virtually all "teen suicides" and "school shootings". > Most of these people: https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ Could not acquire a nuke. I disagree. Strongly. If there are people willing to sell nuclear technology to the likes of Kim Jong Un, there are people willing to sell it to the Walton family heirs.