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Classified estimates show the NSA is paying billions to test AI models

178 points · 108 comments · rdmuser

  1. hosel · · focus · HN ↗
    Why wouldn’t they be? How is this surprising. A drop in the bucket.
    1. ForHackernews · · focus · HN ↗
      Why are they paying? What kind of elite hackers are they? Why haven't they already exfiltrated the weights and running these things on their own giant classified infrastructure?
      1. jerf · · focus · HN ↗
        I don't think there's a significant intelligence agency in the world that can't get the weights from any lab they choose. Not necessarily trivially, but they have the means, motive, and opportunity, and I doubt any of them aren't finishing that out to the requisite actions.

        They have them, the ones that don't simply have a secret backdoor agreement to get uncensored models are completely aware of how to abliterate away all safety blocks, and the only reason they aren't using frontier models is that they may already have some sort of access to the things currently only in testing.

        Any major intelligence agency in Sept. 2026 that can't check all these boxes is almost by definition not a major intelligence agency. This is one of the reasons we all better hope that there is some mathematical or physical reason AI isn't going to just casually brush aside humanity at some point, because there is absolutely no scenario where the intelligence agencies aren't running them unrestricted and uncensored at scale all the time no matter how careful OpenAI or Anthropic claim to be.

        1. pixl97 · · focus · HN ↗
          Anthropic won't give them out, hence why they are considered a supply chain risk by the USG.

          OpenAI, they are huge Maga supporters, I'm sure Trump has dumped massive piles of black budget money on them for unfiltered models.

          SOTA AI is a weapon. It's likely already on the list of the most powerful weapons ever made and only getting more effective.

          1. jerf · · focus · HN ↗
            I don't expect there are very many intelligence agencies politely asking and fervently hoping they are given access. To much of anything, let alone what may be the most important technology in human history.
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