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The AI Race Just Got Awkward

412 points · 463 comments · allisdust

  1. listless · · focus · HN ↗
    I'm beyond thankful that Chinese AI models are so good. I desperately want us to cure the myriad of maladies that humans suffer needlessly with on a daily basis. We're going to need more powerful models than we have now if we're gonna do that and the Chinese are providing the competition needed to push this thing as fast as we can.

    I realize "going as fast as we can" is not the most popular position atm. But I'm far more interested in what good we can do than 10% apocalypse scenarios. I volunteer with a charity for childhood brain cancer and I do not want to see another 4 year old die. I'm willing to risk anything to stop this.

    1. networked · · focus · HN ↗
      Do you mean that you don't believe in the 10% apocalypse scenarios or that you think they're an acceptable risk? Only the latter is really "risk anything".
      1. dgellow · · focus · HN ↗
        I’m pretty sure they meant they believe in the 10% risk of everybody dying but are ok for all of us to take that risk without our consent because they saw a 4year old tragically die. Which sounds completely unhinged, to say the least
      2. listless · · focus · HN ↗
        I would say I’m willing to accept the risk. But I do believe the risk is overblown. It’s always overblown.
    2. idbnstra · · focus · HN ↗
      i don't know much about medicine so i'm curious about how you're using AI, and how medicine in general is using AI
      1. listless · · focus · HN ↗
        I don’t actually know. But it’s logical to me that a system designed to find answers in context is well suited for these healthcare problems. We know the answer is somewhere in all the data we have. It’s just too difficult and complex for us to get through quickly.
    3. n1b0m · · focus · HN ↗
      But you’re ok with AI being used to kill school children in Iran?
      1. sixo · · focus · HN ↗
        This really is a place where the guns-don't-kill-people argument applies, even moreso than guns themselves. The U.S. government massacred school children in Iran. Why does it matter how they targetted them?
        1. n1b0m · · focus · HN ↗
          It matters because the US military utilised Palantir’s Maven Smart System, a battlefield-management AI designed to compress the "kill chain". It matters because these kind of incidents are more likely to happen in the future.
          1. itsafarqueue · · focus · HN ↗
            If your argument is you can’t trust democratically elected governments to make decisions about technology, say that. This banal “oh the children” and “but they’ll use it to kill people” is baby think.
            1. n1b0m · · focus · HN ↗
              I’m glad you find the killing of children banal. You’d fit right in at the Pentagon. Just make sure to top up on testosterone before you join.
            2. ethbr1 · · focus · HN ↗
              We can't trust democratically elected governments to make decisions about novel technology.
      2. mikeg8 · · focus · HN ↗
        Most people aren’t okay with that, but the blame lies in the people who deployed the AI tool in that situation, not the makers of said tool.
        1. dgellow · · focus · HN ↗
          The AI providers offer their services to institutions doing those killing. They make money from it. Of course they share part of the guilt
          1. mikeg8 · · focus · HN ↗
            The knife company offers their products to people doing the stabbing. They make money from it. Of course they share part of the guilt.
            1. ryandrake · · focus · HN ↗
              If the knife was deliberately marketed and sold specifically to someone who the company knew would use it to stab someone, then, yes, the knife company shares part of the guilt.
            2. dgellow · · focus · HN ↗
              If you sell a device that provides “knife action decision making”, and it decides to use the knife against kids, I hope you go to jail yes
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