‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

The Download: why AI's latest breakthroughs and fears may be more hype than rea

49 points · 128 comments · joozio

  1. bananaflag · · focus · HN ↗
    > Describing them as “superintelligence” or “rogue models” ascribes agency to products rather than to the companies building them. This framing markets these companies’ products as “superhuman” and, at the same time, helps the companies evade accountability for their actions.

    If someone discovered how to summon demons to aid them in robbing banks the main issue wouldn't be "but who has the responsibility for the crime, the human or the demon", it would be "OMG DEMONS".

    Seriously, I don't get what sort of world these people are living in.

    1. danaris · · focus · HN ↗
      And if they'd discovered how to summon unicorns from Candy Gumdrop Mountain, we'd all be "OMG UNICORNS!"

      But no one has summoned a demon.

      No one has built an actual, independent, thinking-for-itself, sci-fi AI.

      They've built some very interesting tools that can be used for some very interesting, and sometimes useful, purposes. They then started loudly telling everyone that these tools can, should, and must be used for absolutely every purpose, and convinced a lot of other people to join in on that.

      The world these people are living in is the real world, not the science fantasy world where LLMs are comparable to demons.

      1. pixl97 · · focus · HN ↗
        >No one has built an actual, independent, thinking-for-itself, sci-fi AI.'

        Ahem, what does this mean?

        All you're asking for is a self prompting AI that does what it wants. Do you even begin to understand why most people aren't dumb enough to do that?

        Also, you're not really that independent and thinking-for-yourself. You are the sum of your parents and the culture around you. I just want you to be clear on the position you and I hold.

        ---

        >not the science fantasy world

        It's kind of funny how we've lived in that science fantasy world for decades and you've just grown used to and bored of it. Look back a century or two and those people would think we live in the world of gods.

        1. eloisius · · focus · HN ↗
          > All you're asking for is a self prompting AI that does what it wants. Do you even begin to understand why most people aren't dumb enough to do that?

          Probably because it would be a waste of money to create a self-prompting LLM feedback loop. People make stupid Reels of ChatGPT feedback and it's just "Great, I'll be here when you're ready to get started" "Exactly, we can get the ball rolling as soon as you're ready" "Absolutely, we'll make a plan, and get things into motion" "No problem, I'll be standing by for...."

          > You are the sum of your parents and the culture around you

          As far as I know this is impossible to prove, and it's only one theory of self out there.

          1. pixl97 · · focus · HN ↗
            >it would be a waste of money to create a self-prompting LLM feedback loop

            Well, it would be a waste until we get RSI, but we're not there yet.

            Now, that doesn't mean that the labs aren't internally working on it as hard as possible.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.