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This is dangerous. I think of talking to an LLM like playing a game - it's a complex system and it's fun to mess with it and role play. Taking what somebody sa
by rottencupcakes 26d ago
This is dangerous. I think of talking to an LLM like playing a game - it's a complex system and it's fun to mess with it and role play.
Taking what somebody says in an LLM chat as the truth and using it in the real world is a slippery slope. The fears about thought crime are real.
- generic92034 26d agoWhile I mostly agree, was that really different with googling certain topics, before modern AI?
- rottencupcakes 26d agoI had to give this thought, but yes. I could use Tor or Google from the library if I wanted. Maybe I would accidentally leak my paper trail, like the Dread Pirate Roberts (Ross Ulbricht) did. But it was possible. The AI systems require an account.
- generic92034 26d agoI can still use chatgpt without an account. Maybe it will be a limited model, but for discussing/analyzing some topics it still does fine, most of the time. You just cannot code with it.
- mrguyorama 26d agoThe big problem that bothers me is the ability for post-hoc justification. Any interaction with cops will result in them curating your entire digital presence to craft a damning story about how deviant you are, for doing things like googling TNT Every time they shoot someone now there's an entire media blitz dedicated to how that person once did something bad.
- cldellow 26d agoIn my view, LLM companies are in a tough spot here. I grew up in Dawson Creek, BC. An hour's drive away is Tumbler Ridge. In February 2026, someone did a mass shooting, killing 6 people and injuring 2 dozen more. The shooter had previously discussed this with ChatGPT, but OpenAI did not report it to the authorities at the time. In hindsight, that was an error. Should the LLM companies be the ones determining if threats are real, or should they just default to letting the police investigate? I'm fine with the latter. Again, I absolutely believe that these companies have immense power to do evil, I just don't think the linked article is strong evidence of it.
- rottencupcakes 26d agoBy allowing the monitoring of AI conversations, we are creating a dystopian world where essentially all recorded or spoken thought is monitored (given that AI has or will have access to almost all conversations). Is this the world we want to live in?
- SoftTalker 26d agoLike anything else online, if you want something to be private, don't post it. Absolutely nothing you view, send or post on any online service can be assumed to be private. If someone told you they were planning a mass shooting and wanted advice for how to carry it out, would you report them?
- NewJazz 26d agoSo do you think offline language models should be outlawed or restricted?
- SoftTalker 26d agoI don't know how you inferred that. I said nothing about restricting offline computing.
- NewJazz 26d agoOk, so the rules for someone who selfhosts vs. Hosts for others should be different? What if I provide inference services to my family members, should I monitor their interactions and report them if I find anything dangerous?
- SoftTalker 26d agoIt's more about what I can expect. If I keep a diary offline on paper I can expect that to be private. If I keep a diary on a hosted diary-as-a-service, I cannot.
- Analemma_ 26d agoI don't think you should think of it like "playing a game", you should think of it as "posting to a web service you don't control". If you posted on a web forum about your plans for violence against the CEO of that forum, they'd probably contact the police too, and I don't particularly think there's anything sinister about this.
- rottencupcakes 26d agoSo we're creating a system where people who can afford their own hardware can speak to AI freely but the plebes will be monitored by the elites for any attempted uprising?
- Analemma_ 26d ago"Creating"? I don't think there has ever been a system where you could expect to be able to plan an uprising against the elites in public, or using infrastructure those elites own and control. I wouldn't expect to be able to plan a peasant revolt in the lord's manor.
- AnonyX387 26d ago> Richard Stallman was right about everything. He might be right about this but everything is really pushing it.
- 4d4m 26d agoThe legal fallout from LLMs becoming spy will overwhelm any profit from these misguided attempts at short lived contracts.
- palmotea 26d ago> The legal fallout from LLMs becoming spy will overwhelm any profit from these misguided attempts at short lived contracts. Then the law must be changed to protect the profit.