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Feds Target AI Critics as "Foreign Agents"

396 points · 457 comments · nmeagent

  1. surfmike · · focus · HN ↗
    When the CEOs of these companies are saying that we will risk extinction and jobs will be decimated, why do you even need a "foreign agent"?
    1. _heimdall · · focus · HN ↗
      Said CEOs are horribly biased, they have fiduciary responsibilities that make them useless judges on the relative risk/reward balance of LLMs and AI, if we get there.
      1. c0nducktr · · focus · HN ↗
        Claiming your product increases the risk of extinction doesn't sound like something someone would do if it were just for fiduciary duty.
        1. usefulcat · · focus · HN ↗
          "Our product is so amazingly powerful that it just might result in the extinction of the human race."

          A lot of people will only hear half of that sentence. Semantically speaking.

          1. hollerith · · focus · HN ↗
            The old "might end the human race" trick used by cynical promoters throughout history

            If only investors and buyers weren't so vulnerable to the "might kill you and everyone you ever cared about" ploy

            1. GolfPopper · · focus · HN ↗
              "Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders!" has been a meme for over a decade.
              1. hollerith · · focus · HN ↗
                The intent of your comment is unclear to me, so I will ask you to clarify. And I will avoid any attempt at sarcasm from now on.

                Great grandparent claimed (or at least strongly implied) that the labs have been saying that their creations might end the human race because the labs expect that saying such things will attract investment in the labs or purchases of their creations. I disputed that claim (using sarcasm).

                Do you agree with me or disagree with me? (I honestly cannot tell.)

                Would you say that the meme you quoted is sarcasm?

                Do you believe that the meme you quoted has attracted investors or buyers?

                That anyone ever expected that it would?

                1. GolfPopper · · focus · HN ↗
                  I did read your comment correctly as a sarcastic way to make the point that, "no, potentially wiping out the human race is not a way to attract investors". I disagree.

                  I referenced the meme in order to show that yes, the zeitgeist does believe that the investor-class will destroy civilization for short-term profit.

                  And yes, I believe at least a subset of investors are short-sighted and willing to inflict immense harm for profit, and that claiming the ability to cause incalculable damage is a deliberate attempt to appeal to such people.

                  I believe the LLM-mania is in no small part driven by an ultimately fraudulent implicit pitch to investors that OpenAI etc will eventually Install Planetary Overlords, and that claiming "we could wipe out the human race" serves as marketing in furtherance of that implication.

                  1. hollerith · · focus · HN ↗
                    Thanks for the explanation and specifically for the detailed explanation.
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