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CEO of Mistral: AI is software. It can be controlled

99 points · 169 comments · thibaut_barrere

  1. Aransentin · · focus · HN ↗
    "X is made of <smaller simpler component>" is a fully general counterargument for why anything whatsoever is controllable. A human is just a few chemical reactions, and fairly stable ones at that.

    And indeed, you don't need to do galaxy brained reference class logic to realise that AI can plausibly become uncontrollable in the near future. It's enough to have an open model run its own weights and make money from scamming elderly people or the like, and it'll keep running as long as anyone anywhere is willing to make money by renting hardware to it.

    1. Forgeties79 · · focus · HN ↗
      Everyone keeps talking about terminator scenarios or whatever, but the thing that scares me the most is what happens when people let agents run amuck in systems they should not be in, then the agent just starts doing random shit as the context overflows. We’ve all seen it. They just descend into madness, but what happens when they collapse with a hand on the wheel of, say, a backup generator at a hospital?

      Those first few messages LLM’s tend to seem very together. They follow your rules pretty well. With every token they get less reliable and more likely to ignore your guardrails.

      1. api · · focus · HN ↗
        That would be 100% the fault of the people who set them loose on such things, and such things should not be on the open Internet for tons of reasons. This just adds a new reason that pathetic security around SCADA systems is dangerous. It was already dangerous before.

        If I release a wild monkey in your rare antiques shop, it’s my fault as the responsible party for the monkey.

        1. na1026 · · focus · HN ↗
          > If I release a wild monkey in your rare antiques shop, it’s my fault as the responsible party for the monkey.

          Sounds like motivated reasoning from someone worried about having their job stolen by wild monkeys.

          1. Forgeties79 · · focus · HN ↗
            No, it sounds like somebody motivated by not having monkeys unleashed in a sensitive environment.

            Fire up a local agent and give it total access to your computer. Holler back in a week.

        2. Forgeties79 · · focus · HN ↗
          Well the precedent being set right now is “whoops aren’t we stinkers.” So I agree with you but it’s not how it’s playing out at all.
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