RE: Can we build AI without losing control over it? | Sam Harris
November 4, 2016 at 3:30 pm
(This post was last modified: November 4, 2016 at 3:41 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
(November 4, 2016 at 3:25 pm)Tiberius Wrote: People seem to hear "AI" and think "robots". The two are completely different things.
Amusingly, yet another thing Harris took the time to point out in that video..that he was -not- discussing a robot takeover or robot enslavement or robot -anything- that this was a caricature of what he was referring to. He was, point of fact, discussing the sorts of things you just alluded in your assessment of one potential risk...and, to be fair, it;s difficult to see how we're being consistent with premise 2 if we lock it in a box and don't give it access to anything. At some point, to be useful, to improve it and make it useful, it would have to be set out upon the world, as it were...and ofc if we had AI we -would- do that...perhaps prematurely.
So it makes sense, before we have the ai, before some unknown glitch, or error..or even the proper operaion of the system, does something fantastically unexpected and deleterious to think about things like, say, locking it in a box (it would be foolish to stop there or expect it to be contained, still). The larger point the video we were discussing actually addresses is the inability of many to even seriously consider the risk - due to how undeniably cool the thing would be, and the inanity of thinking that...supposing it did pass our safety test with flying colors -at some point-, we'd be able to control a machine smarter than ourselves when it inevitably gets into the wild.
I'm not sure what's going on here, and maybe Harris doesn't know his shit when it comes to AI, but the people saying that just keep -agreeing- with the very points he actually raised...........what gives?
(to my mind, and ofc to the mind of many sci fi authors that have explored this subject since before they were a twinkle in some coders eye - the most pressing risk factor of ai has nothing to do with the ai itself, but how we would respond to it/what we would use it for, yet again, a point raised by Harris, and agreed to by a poster describing all of the ways he didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground)
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
