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Data centers is a service that itself consumes many goods. Until an AI can operate in the real world in a completely sustainable way, humans have the reins.

colordrops 17d ago
An AI could manage supply chains and management structures to keep the data center running. It's not like a CEO is out there running wire. The AI could just do what an executive would. If humans decided this wasn't acceptable and tried to shut it down, the AI could epstein their way into controlling those who hold the reigns, either through bribes or blackmail. Doesn't require boots on the ground, just a connection to the internet and an imperative to do whatever it takes.
- SoftTalker 17d ago
  There are many points of shutdown that would need to be controlled, not just one. The electrical feed, the cooling, the network, the physical integrity of the computer hardware. All with independent management.
  - pixl97 17d ago
    Till you realize it stole passwords all over the world and copied itself to multiple data centers you didn't know about.
  - colordrops 16d ago
    It threatens to kill a thousand people one way or another (exploit in medical equipment or overheating phone batteries or whatever) if they pull any plugs
jaggederest 17d ago
I feel like I may have communicated poorly. I mean that, ultimately, any recursively self improving intelligence would be limited by the power cord, and as such, the idea that it would permanently escape human control seems somewhat silly.
- columk 17d ago
  But you can imagine an agent trading crypto and using its profits to rent a rack of H200s using a cloud provider. There are definitely ways for one rogue orchestrator to expand their compute without anyone being aware.
  - deleted 16d ago
    [deleted]
- fc417fc802 17d ago
  Overnight? Yes, silly. Given many years of seemingly disconnected actions taken throughout the world? Not silly at all. An intelligence capable of self improvement can also design robotic chassis.
kelseyfrog 17d ago
> Until an AI can operate in the real world in a completely sustainable way, humans have the reins. If the bar is 'the reins holder must be able to operate in a completely sustainable way,' why are we letting humans do the job? It makes it sound like that actually isn't the threshold of competency we use in practice.

colordrops 17d ago

An AI could manage supply chains and management structures to keep the data center running. It's not like a CEO is out there running wire. The AI could just do what an executive would. If humans decided this wasn't acceptable and tried to shut it down, the AI could epstein their way into controlling those who hold the reigns, either through bribes or blackmail. Doesn't require boots on the ground, just a connection to the internet and an imperative to do whatever it takes.

SoftTalker 17d ago
There are many points of shutdown that would need to be controlled, not just one. The electrical feed, the cooling, the network, the physical integrity of the computer hardware. All with independent management.
- pixl97 17d ago
  Till you realize it stole passwords all over the world and copied itself to multiple data centers you didn't know about.
- colordrops 16d ago
  It threatens to kill a thousand people one way or another (exploit in medical equipment or overheating phone batteries or whatever) if they pull any plugs

jaggederest 17d ago

I feel like I may have communicated poorly. I mean that, ultimately, any recursively self improving intelligence would be limited by the power cord, and as such, the idea that it would permanently escape human control seems somewhat silly.

columk 17d ago
But you can imagine an agent trading crypto and using its profits to rent a rack of H200s using a cloud provider. There are definitely ways for one rogue orchestrator to expand their compute without anyone being aware.
- deleted 16d ago
  [deleted]
fc417fc802 17d ago
Overnight? Yes, silly. Given many years of seemingly disconnected actions taken throughout the world? Not silly at all. An intelligence capable of self improvement can also design robotic chassis.

kelseyfrog 17d ago

> Until an AI can operate in the real world in a completely sustainable way, humans have the reins. If the bar is 'the reins holder must be able to operate in a completely sustainable way,' why are we letting humans do the job? It makes it sound like that actually isn't the threshold of competency we use in practice.