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It's Time to Investigate the AI Labs

629 points · 277 comments · ibobev

  1. jumploops · · focus · HN ↗
    Maybe I'm a bit too skeptical/cynical, but it certainly seems like the frontier labs have fallen into their own (self-created) AI psychosis.

    There is no doubt in my mind that LLMs are fantastic machines, but the imminent jump from "AGI" to "ASI" seems premature (not to mention the ever-shifting goal posts of AGI itself).

    I'm in the "move as fast as possible" camp and work with LLMs all day, but I still don't believe we're a hop and a skip from ASI.

    In fact, I hope I'm wrong. I hope ASI is around the corner.

    What scares me though, isn't ASI. It's "AGI" (_dumb AI_) used by humans to make decisions for them, because they trust it knows best.

    It's the ceding of intellectual control to high-dimensional magic mirrors, giving up critical thinking because _we_ want to believe _we_ created artificial life.

    This is the new Turing test, and too many smart people are failing.

    1. BoingBoomTschak · · focus · HN ↗
      > too many smart people are failing.

      Sooner or later, people will have to realize an uncomfortable truth: intelligence, while important, is overrated compared to willpower.

      1. Terr_ · · focus · HN ↗
        I feel "willpower" makes it sound a little too conscious, as opposed to habits and conditioning.

        A good analogy might be a very smart person with a gambling addiction.

        Knowing they ought to quit doesn't mean they can quit. Their intelligence becomes invested in the act of gambling itself, and almost no amount of reasoning can help them exit from a situation they didn't reason themselves into.

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