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> If we had developed LLMs in a lab and released them in the form of papers and Python projects with model weights with clear descriptions of what they're capab
by ben_w 1y ago
> If we had developed LLMs in a lab and released them in the form of papers and Python projects with model weights with clear descriptions of what they're capable of, like a responsible scientific endeavor, then we'd not be seeing the problems we are, even with public access.
I'm now thinking of all of the times people here of sarcastically stated "OpenAI thought GPT-2 was too dangerous to release"*, as if danger only comes immediately and severely or not at all.
* wasn't even what OpenAI said, they just proposed setting a norm of caution because a release can't be undone
- dingnuts 1y agothey meant that to be interpreted as a statement of how good GPT-2 is but the real problem is how they've marketed everything that came after to people who can't know better it's EXACTLY the same situation as Musk selling "Full Self Driving" and then playing dumb when people go to sleep behind the wheel of their Tesla These rich men should be in prison for this kind of false advertising
- ben_w 1y ago> they meant that to be interpreted as a statement of how good GPT-2 is Every previous time someone says something like this, I've looked at the original blog post again just to make sure I didn't miss something. OpenAI's own words for GPT-2 never read like a boast to me. Caution, not a boast. News may have bigged it up, but news does that for everything. I mean just compare it to the GPT-5 release: they're not shy or subtle when they actually want to boast.
- jononor 1y agoNote that OpenAI is not the same company now compared to then. All the cautious and responsible people have left or been forced out.
- ben_w 1y agoSure, yes. I'm just frustrated that "doing it right" gets people laughed at both at the time and for several years later, right up until the general dangers they were publicly concerned about manifest, and then people complain about people not doing something to prevent the outcome that they were previously laughed at for attempting to prevent. Those same cautious people who left one way or another, they were the ones most directly mocked for daring to consider the possibility their new thing might be risky and caution might be wise.
- queenkjuul 1y agoWell they didn't really try that hard to prevent it, clearly
- ben_w 1y agoLeaving a company does traditionally make it difficult to influence that company, yes.