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Like if its true it can't be hype I was kind of leaning toward thinking all the talk of doom was a bunch of self-serving regulatory-capture hype until this mor

Like if its true it can't be hype I was kind of leaning toward thinking all the talk of doom was a bunch of self-serving regulatory-capture hype until this morning when the New York Times ran a long story about the Chinese military is also saying that AI is a threat. If two sides so far apart from one another in so many ways see the same thing, there must be something to it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/world/asia/china-ai-security-risks-anthropic.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/world/asia/china-ai-secur...

minznerjosh 1mo ago
I came away with a different read of this article. The article says the head of China’s Ministry of State Security sees AI as a threat to the CCP, specifically calling out deepfakes of party officials, cyberattacks on infrastructure, etc. He’s not calling it an existential risk to humanity. The article then states this official accused U.S. companies of “hyping the dangers of the technology.” So I don’t see how this article shows the U.S. and China seeing the same thing.
jackb4040 1mo ago
https://archive.ph/BzBjZ https://archive.ph/BzBjZ Read the article. The things the Chinese officials are worried about are: * Fake videos / disinformation * Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure * Data leaks * Advances in military sensing / targeting technology These concerns have little in common with the Yudkowskian / apocalyptic doom marketing the US hyperscalers are pushing now. The Times even says this explicitly in the second paragraph of the article: > "The unusually blunt assessment by Chen Yixin, the head of China’s Ministry of State Security, is IN CONTRAST TO the warnings dominating the A.I. debate in the United States, which have focused on the possibility that A.I. could slip out of human control or pose a threat to humanity itself"
- pixl97 1mo ago
  The thing is all the above are threats. The internet being filled with more trash than ever is a threat to our sanity. The anti-social posts mass generated by AI is a threat to our societies. Bullshit news stories is a threat to our political processes and democracy. Smart cameras every are a threat to our privacy and freedom. AI enabled scams are a threat to our wallets. AI hacking is a threat to anything connected along with infrastructure. Military applications of AI are a threat to everyone. Ever increasing intelligence in agentic AI will eventually be a threat to our entire species. All are true at the same time.
  - jackb4040 1mo ago
    Real threats that are happening to regular people already, vs marketing "threats" that the technology is too powerful / valuable. The fact that you are chiming in to say you don't understand the difference between these 2 distinct categories of threats is fine, we can work on that. But the person who posted the article originally not only acknowledges the distinction, they falsely presented the article as evidence of non-western support for the latter category, even though both the Chinese official and the western reporter directly contradict that claim immediately at the beginning of the article.
  - sublinear 1mo ago
    I think it's interesting that the top of your list is "internet (social media) being filled with trash".
- reaperducer 1mo ago
  Read the article. I did, thanks. I don't need you to tell me to do that. The common thread is that they both see AI as a threat. It's a different threat to each side, but still a threat. Just because they see different threats from AI doesn't mean that AI isn't a threat. If one person wants to paint the house red and another person wants to paint the house blue doesn't mean the house doesn't need to be painted.
  - jackb4040 1mo ago
    "I was kind of leaning toward thinking all the talk of doom was a bunch of self-serving regulatory-capture hype" "Just because they see different threats from AI doesn't mean that AI isn't a threat" Why would you make it so blatantly obvious you're acting in bad faith? Do you think the people who post here are stupid?
    - reaperducer 1mo ago
      I really have no idea what you're talking about. With that level of snap hostility toward strangers online, maybe talk to your doctor about upping your meds.
      - jackb4040 1mo ago
        You made a literally fake post and all replies to it are pointing that out. You haven't made a substantive reply to either.
  - aidenn0 1mo ago
    Thinking AI is an existential threat to humanity because it will take over the world and thinking AI is a non-existential threat because it makes disinformation and hacking easier are not even remotely the same thing. It's about as much of a common thread as comparing Shohei Ohtani to a loan-shark's enforcer because they both swing bats at things.
    - jackb4040 1mo ago
hollerith 29d ago
Also, if it is regulatory-capture hype, why would so many people outside the industry be contributing to the hype (including many people who've been warning of the danger before AI labs had any revenue at all)? What would be their motivation?

minznerjosh 1mo ago

I came away with a different read of this article. The article says the head of China’s Ministry of State Security sees AI as a threat to the CCP, specifically calling out deepfakes of party officials, cyberattacks on infrastructure, etc. He’s not calling it an existential risk to humanity. The article then states this official accused U.S. companies of “hyping the dangers of the technology.” So I don’t see how this article shows the U.S. and China seeing the same thing.

jackb4040 1mo ago

https://archive.ph/BzBjZ https://archive.ph/BzBjZ Read the article. The things the Chinese officials are worried about are: * Fake videos / disinformation * Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure * Data leaks * Advances in military sensing / targeting technology These concerns have little in common with the Yudkowskian / apocalyptic doom marketing the US hyperscalers are pushing now. The Times even says this explicitly in the second paragraph of the article: > "The unusually blunt assessment by Chen Yixin, the head of China’s Ministry of State Security, is IN CONTRAST TO the warnings dominating the A.I. debate in the United States, which have focused on the possibility that A.I. could slip out of human control or pose a threat to humanity itself"

pixl97 1mo ago
The thing is all the above are threats. The internet being filled with more trash than ever is a threat to our sanity. The anti-social posts mass generated by AI is a threat to our societies. Bullshit news stories is a threat to our political processes and democracy. Smart cameras every are a threat to our privacy and freedom. AI enabled scams are a threat to our wallets. AI hacking is a threat to anything connected along with infrastructure. Military applications of AI are a threat to everyone. Ever increasing intelligence in agentic AI will eventually be a threat to our entire species. All are true at the same time.
- jackb4040 1mo ago
  Real threats that are happening to regular people already, vs marketing "threats" that the technology is too powerful / valuable. The fact that you are chiming in to say you don't understand the difference between these 2 distinct categories of threats is fine, we can work on that. But the person who posted the article originally not only acknowledges the distinction, they falsely presented the article as evidence of non-western support for the latter category, even though both the Chinese official and the western reporter directly contradict that claim immediately at the beginning of the article.
- sublinear 1mo ago
  I think it's interesting that the top of your list is "internet (social media) being filled with trash".
reaperducer 1mo ago
Read the article. I did, thanks. I don't need you to tell me to do that. The common thread is that they both see AI as a threat. It's a different threat to each side, but still a threat. Just because they see different threats from AI doesn't mean that AI isn't a threat. If one person wants to paint the house red and another person wants to paint the house blue doesn't mean the house doesn't need to be painted.
- jackb4040 1mo ago
  "I was kind of leaning toward thinking all the talk of doom was a bunch of self-serving regulatory-capture hype" "Just because they see different threats from AI doesn't mean that AI isn't a threat" Why would you make it so blatantly obvious you're acting in bad faith? Do you think the people who post here are stupid?
  - reaperducer 1mo ago
    I really have no idea what you're talking about. With that level of snap hostility toward strangers online, maybe talk to your doctor about upping your meds.
    - jackb4040 1mo ago
      You made a literally fake post and all replies to it are pointing that out. You haven't made a substantive reply to either.
- aidenn0 1mo ago
  Thinking AI is an existential threat to humanity because it will take over the world and thinking AI is a non-existential threat because it makes disinformation and hacking easier are not even remotely the same thing. It's about as much of a common thread as comparing Shohei Ohtani to a loan-shark's enforcer because they both swing bats at things.
  - jackb4040 1mo ago

hollerith 29d ago

Also, if it is regulatory-capture hype, why would so many people outside the industry be contributing to the hype (including many people who've been warning of the danger before AI labs had any revenue at all)? What would be their motivation?