Mostly pretty straight forward. The idea that proofs be desloppified, attribute existing literature properly, and published somewhere expediently where it can be commented on, with artifacts for verification, is all very uncontroversial stuff.
I think the spicy take is definitely this stance that longstanding mathematical problems shouldn't be used as benchmarks for (specifically proprietary) models. Stated right at the very top.
The justification is pretty clear.
> The use of proprietary internal models by AI labs to do mathematical research risks creating a two-tier system where labs outrun the rest of the field, effectively alienating the mathematical community from its own discipline.
It is all fun and games (for non mathematicians) when mathematicians can't compete with AI labs but I think the more dangerous direction is when this starts being true for the rest of everything. For example cybersecurity or whatnot. Hence why I think Anthropics whole stance of being completely against open anything is actually *extremely* dangerous due to the centralization of power which they completely ignore as a risk factor.
The most discussable thing in this is certainly the idea that labs should fund mathematicians to do expositions.
> One of our principles is that AI labs have a responsibility to provide support, including funding, for the development of human understanding of the AI mathematical output that they release.
Obviously this directionally sounds like the role of mathematicians would be shifting towards interpreting AI results instead of making proofs. I'm not sure who would should really be billed for that. Plus how would you decide who gets the grant?
An interesting thing is that by stating that that the lab that dropped the result provide the funding, this is *directly* proposing an example of taxing AI labs for displacing knowledge workers.
> The use of proprietary internal models by AI labs to do mathematical research risks creating a two-tier system where labs outrun the rest of the field
This is literally the economic bet of the big labs in the broader economy. You use your relative advantage to front run or outcompete.
I'm not sure this argument will work given it is essentially an argument against the thesis the big labs use to justify their valuations.
Right, the whole idea of these labs is to install themselves as capitalist philosopher kings. They won't tolerate any ideas of "decentralization" despite it benefiting 99% of humans.
OpenAI was started because Elon and Sam thought Demis was going to make himself dictator and they wanted a piece of that action (reading between the lines). All the labs, even Anthropic have the same idea dressed in different marketing gloss. The major exception (I imagine) are Chinese labs, since the Communist Party of China will demand control over these labs and their models. Good! Democratic human control is a good thing. Certainly, there is more democracy in China than in America. That's the idea of socialism, democracy for the workers, not for the capitalists (we do the inverse).
Socialism is about the decentralization of power. In some popular formulations, the economy is run according to a central plan, but in one view, this is democracy. Otherwise, you are at the whim of the rich and tyrannical market forces. With central planning, you get a vote on the general direction of society, which has its possibilities encoded in the material world.
With AI you can see a stark illustration. In America, the government is captured by the rich and the AI companies. They can do whatever they want to you and you have no control. In a worker's government, the government will direct production on behalf of society so you will benefit.
China uses a capitalist mode of production, but imposes strong restrictions and ensures the benefits accrue to the people. That's democracy.
The "authoritarian" propaganda about China is primarily sermonizing against people being able to being able to choose a direction to go in. Instead, the rich are supposed to be able to do whatever they want to whomever they want. That's the American dream.
kingstnap · · focus · HN ↗
I think the spicy take is definitely this stance that longstanding mathematical problems shouldn't be used as benchmarks for (specifically proprietary) models. Stated right at the very top.
The justification is pretty clear.
> The use of proprietary internal models by AI labs to do mathematical research risks creating a two-tier system where labs outrun the rest of the field, effectively alienating the mathematical community from its own discipline.
It is all fun and games (for non mathematicians) when mathematicians can't compete with AI labs but I think the more dangerous direction is when this starts being true for the rest of everything. For example cybersecurity or whatnot. Hence why I think Anthropics whole stance of being completely against open anything is actually *extremely* dangerous due to the centralization of power which they completely ignore as a risk factor.
The most discussable thing in this is certainly the idea that labs should fund mathematicians to do expositions.
> One of our principles is that AI labs have a responsibility to provide support, including funding, for the development of human understanding of the AI mathematical output that they release.
Obviously this directionally sounds like the role of mathematicians would be shifting towards interpreting AI results instead of making proofs. I'm not sure who would should really be billed for that. Plus how would you decide who gets the grant?
An interesting thing is that by stating that that the lab that dropped the result provide the funding, this is *directly* proposing an example of taxing AI labs for displacing knowledge workers.
BobbyJo · · focus · HN ↗
This is literally the economic bet of the big labs in the broader economy. You use your relative advantage to front run or outcompete.
I'm not sure this argument will work given it is essentially an argument against the thesis the big labs use to justify their valuations.
tehjoker · · focus · HN ↗
OpenAI was started because Elon and Sam thought Demis was going to make himself dictator and they wanted a piece of that action (reading between the lines). All the labs, even Anthropic have the same idea dressed in different marketing gloss. The major exception (I imagine) are Chinese labs, since the Communist Party of China will demand control over these labs and their models. Good! Democratic human control is a good thing. Certainly, there is more democracy in China than in America. That's the idea of socialism, democracy for the workers, not for the capitalists (we do the inverse).
octoberfranklin · · focus · HN ↗
tehjoker · · focus · HN ↗
With AI you can see a stark illustration. In America, the government is captured by the rich and the AI companies. They can do whatever they want to you and you have no control. In a worker's government, the government will direct production on behalf of society so you will benefit.
China uses a capitalist mode of production, but imposes strong restrictions and ensures the benefits accrue to the people. That's democracy.
The "authoritarian" propaganda about China is primarily sermonizing against people being able to being able to choose a direction to go in. Instead, the rich are supposed to be able to do whatever they want to whomever they want. That's the American dream.
octoberfranklin · · focus · HN ↗
thunderfork · · focus · HN ↗