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IF one maintains a clear understanding of how the technology actually works, THEN one will make good decisions about whether to put it charge of the lawnmower i

IF one maintains a clear understanding of how the technology actually works, THEN one will make good decisions about whether to put it charge of the lawnmower in the first place. Anthropic is in the business of selling AI. Of course they are going to approach alignment as a necessary and solvable problem. The rest of us don’t have to go along with that, though. Why is it even necessary to use an LLM to mow a lawn? There is more to AI than generative LLMs.

ctoth 2y ago
> Why is it even necessary to use an LLM to mow a lawn? There is more to AI than generative LLMs. As if this reasoning will stop people? On the front page today we have: \> Our system combines a robotic platform (we call the first one Maurice) with an AI agent that understands the environment, plans actions, and executes them using skills you've taught it or programmed within our SDK. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42451707 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42451707
ahel 2y ago
LOL smart fridge anyone?
HDThoreaun 2y ago
> Why is it even necessary to use an LLM to mow a lawn? There is more to AI than generative LLMs. Its necessary for us to consider alignment because someone will put an LLM in a lawnmower even if its a bad idea. Maybe you wont buy it but some poor shmuck will and we should get ahead of that.
- snowwrestler 2y ago
  If a company is going to make bad decisions on installing and applying an LLM, they are also going to make bad decisions on aligning an LLM. Even if Anthropic learns how to perfectly align their LLM, what will force the lawnmower company to use their perfectly aligned LLM? “People will just make bad decisions anyway” is not a useful point of view, it’s just an excuse to stop thinking. If we accept that people and companies can be influenced, then we can talk about what they should or should not do. And clearly the answer here is that companies should understand the shortcomings of LLMs when engineering with them. And not put them in lawnmowers.

ctoth 2y ago

> Why is it even necessary to use an LLM to mow a lawn? There is more to AI than generative LLMs. As if this reasoning will stop people? On the front page today we have: \> Our system combines a robotic platform (we call the first one Maurice) with an AI agent that understands the environment, plans actions, and executes them using skills you've taught it or programmed within our SDK. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42451707 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42451707

ahel 2y ago

LOL smart fridge anyone?

HDThoreaun 2y ago

> Why is it even necessary to use an LLM to mow a lawn? There is more to AI than generative LLMs. Its necessary for us to consider alignment because someone will put an LLM in a lawnmower even if its a bad idea. Maybe you wont buy it but some poor shmuck will and we should get ahead of that.

snowwrestler 2y ago
If a company is going to make bad decisions on installing and applying an LLM, they are also going to make bad decisions on aligning an LLM. Even if Anthropic learns how to perfectly align their LLM, what will force the lawnmower company to use their perfectly aligned LLM? “People will just make bad decisions anyway” is not a useful point of view, it’s just an excuse to stop thinking. If we accept that people and companies can be influenced, then we can talk about what they should or should not do. And clearly the answer here is that companies should understand the shortcomings of LLMs when engineering with them. And not put them in lawnmowers.