AI: Major Emerging Existential Threat To Humanity

[Etern4l]

17 minutes ago, cucubits said:

You're right, I did only go through the first and last page of this topic so far. 

 

That's quite a brilliant quote and right now I feel we're at the spot where we can maybe almost see a cliff but the views are prettier and we're ignoring the rest. 

 

Hard to say how bad it will be and how much of a snowball effect it will have when companies really start using AI to replace actual human jobs. 

 

I mean it's not hard to see where things are going. The simple question to answer about the very short term impact is: what percentage of the given job could the current, or a slightly more advanced AI do much faster and at a close to zero cost. The expected job losses in that area roughly correspond to that fraction. Remember, that - as per the Industrial Revolution - the overall global economy will shrink as a result (because of the extra unemployment), so the affected will be unlikely to find alternative employment (on average) in any but the least desirable areas. The process has already started, although it's just the tip of the tip of the iceberg. You are absolutely right, what people are failing to grasp is the size of the snowball, which will grab and smash pretty much the entire workforce: from scientists to plumbers and farm workers (just google agricultural automation if in doubt). 

[Etern4l]

UK watchdog to review AI models like ChatGPT - FT

The same regulator just blocked Microsoft's takeover of Activision-Blizzard.

Promising. 

[ryan]

I wonder how long it will take autobots to be created and take over the world. It's really a stark idea but I think robots and ai will soon be entangled and thats when autobots with mobility take over the world. or verbal manipulation.

 

think its funny, these autobots were not programmed to play soccer

 

 

this robot is a prototype and has better mobility than me

 

[Etern4l]

I watched an interview with the CEO of Boston Dynamics. In the non-physical space, we are already living in the age of bots. On the physical side, full-on humanoid robots are not an immediate prospect. I think the push there will continue to be on the industrial, commercial, driving and military fronts first.

 

  

10 hours ago, ryan said:

this robot is a prototype and has better mobility than me

 

@ryanImagine one of those things armed, and rest assured they will be. DoD contracts are one of the major sources of funding for Boston Dynamics, and if not them, someone on the other side will do it.

 

Physically, Atlas is already in the ballpark of the metal terminators... it's just still too dumb.

 

 

[Eban]

22 hours ago, ryan said:

 

think its funny, these autobots were not programmed to play soccer

 

 

this robot is a prototype and has better mobility than me

 

 

I can't find a youtube about it but...

30 years ago I used to mess with BEAM robotics. Simple insectoids with PIC chips kind of thing.

I remember reading that NASA had made a cat sized 6 legged walker. They programmed it to walk and that it had 6 legs that could move up/down forward/backward. That was it, no other information.

It was walking in less than 20 seconds after being powered up and walking at its most optimal (for a 6 legged thing) in less than a minute.

That was fascinating then.....now I'm worried.

 

 

[ryan]

8 hours ago, Etern4l said:

@ryanImagine one of those things armed, and rest assured they will be. DoD contracts are one of the major sources of funding for Boston Dynamics, and if not them, someone on the other side will do it.

yes, this is what im getting at. potential. imagine them on the battlefield. pin point accuracy and never miss a shot up against conventional armies. better them then us I suppose

[Etern4l]

1 hour ago, ryan said:

better them then us I suppose

 

Better them? That will be it. Once superior military robotics exists, a government can just mass produce this to control the population, conquer any non-nuclear countries etc. Once things get out of hand, the shiny army will be ready to enforce the new world order. Not a future any sane and decent person would want.

[Etern4l]

  

23 hours ago, Eban said:

 

I can't find a youtube about it but...

30 years ago I used to mess with BEAM robotics. Simple insectoids with PIC chips kind of thing.

I remember reading that NASA had made a cat sized 6 legged walker. They programmed it to walk and that it had 6 legs that could move up/down forward/backward. That was it, no other information.

It was walking in less than 20 seconds after being powered up and walking at its most optimal (for a 6 legged thing) in less than a minute.

That was fascinating then.....now I'm worried.

 

 

Yep, the early robots and ideas of robots were fascinating, few people were thinking of the implications if this stuff advances a lot, in part because almost nobody believed it would in such a short period of time. If you asked people in the field a few years ago how much time is need for AI to reach the state it is in now, most people would say 'probably decades', or 'we are not even close'. 

 

 

RIP professional musicians - another species endangered and soon to be terminated by AI:

 

 

Here is one of the AI-generated pieces which started the discussion. Not my genre, but people say it's the best song the original artist Drake never made:

 

 

Edit: The AI part is this is def "just" voice replacement, not clear how the rest of the creative process worked (lyrics in particular, although the music itself is obviously quite simple), however, here is the underlying version by some unknown musician to demonstrate the massive difference just this voice generation makes:

 

 

It's day and night.

[Etern4l]

Trunp supporter Thiel's Palantir is pushing AI into the battlefield. 

 

 

[ryan]

 

 

not much to say. The time is now, nevermind the future. at it's current pace we are in big trouble.

[Etern4l]

Mutual assured destruction is taking on a new meaning. 

[Etern4l]

Good interview with Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of modern AI. Some pretty good quotes there:

 

"We've invented immortality, but it won't be for us"

 

"They may keep us around for a while to run the power stations"

 

"My worry is for those increases in productivity are going to go to putting people out of work and making the rich richer and the poor poorer and as you do that as you make that gap bigger and society gets more and more
violent" 

 

 

[ryan]

By the same logic having brilliant minds like Issac Newton and Albert Einstein should have ended us. I am pretty sure ai will just compliment our lives. The loss of jobs thing and destroying complete industries however is a pretty big downside lol..uh ye yi

[Etern4l]

What same logic? The Hinton interview is like Einstein or Newton telling you there is a serious problem, yet you know better despite not being an expert in the field at all. Perhaps we deserve what's coming....

[ryan]

Was just an example. Ai will be just that. Intelligence. Nothing to fear

[Etern4l]

Nothing creatures of lesser intelligence would fear before it's too late. Cattle are not afraid until the last moments, because we are much more clever than them and thus are able to ensure they won't be able to sense the risk.

 

Spoiler

This chapter covers the design and layout of lairages, races, crowd pens and restrainers. If animals vocalize (bellow or squeal) while held in a head or body restraint device at the slaughter plant, either the design of the device or its operation needs to be improved.

 

 

It's "just" intelligence. It's everything.

 

We are kind of lucky in that the risks are actually being laid bare by the experts left and right, yet the unpleasant situation is still difficult for people to comprehend and accept.

[Etern4l]

More on the immediate threat of AI:

 

 

 

"If someone had the AGI, we wouldn't be sitting here today. The AGI will be the real end of human history"

[ryan]

Are you headed to the woods? What can we do exactly?

[Etern4l]

There is no point trying to hide in the woods. You can't wait this out. Suggestions on what to do in the first post. The time to fight this is now, before it's too late. 

[ryan]

Preach brother preach.

 

If you started a petition I'd be the first to sign

[Etern4l]

BT to cut 55,000 jobs with up to a fifth replaced by AI

Here we go.. BT is a British telecoms giant,  basically a monopolist. 

[Etern4l]

Poll: 61% of Americans say AI threatens humanity’s future

Only 61%? Well, it's a start, and enough to get AI in the US under proper control.

[ryan]

AI threatens humanities future how? it's threatening us how again?

 

like terminator judgement day? robots killing humans?

 

or do you mean like Ai hijacking nukes or something?

 

I was thinking everything gravitates towards cause and effect or reaction. everything we do can have a calculable consequence with enough compute power or intelligence, simple then advanced. as AI evolves it might be able to calculate an outcome it wants which could mean the end of humans or said humans as slaves working for AI. if it reaches that level of intelligence then yes it could say a few things that would start a chain reaction of consequences perfectly calculated @Etern4l

[Etern4l]

@ryan "How" is a fair question. The problem is that there is a vast multitude of ways by which AI could damage or destroy humanity. I think the best we can do right now is enumerate as many as we can, and work as hard as we can on preventing them from happening. The bottom line is that once you have a super-intelligent entities making decisions for you, all bets are off. It need not even be sentient to be extremely harmful and dangerous, and yes - the ability to predict the future better than we can will be at the core of AI's power. 

 

Here is another clip from an interview with Yuval Noah Harari, a historian, futurist and renowned author (recommend watching the whole thing):

 

 

[ryan]

@Etern4lare you stating we don't have free will? at least when it comes to being manipulated by intelligent entities. can you list one way or a way that you are most concerned by? im open even if it sounds crazy

 

also I'd like to add most people don't think and alot of people arguing with you as per the begining didn't really have a point, they just used insults with a dab of sarcasm. I can tell your a very very intelligent wonderful person, but sometimes our minds get overly active and flood us with emotions such as fear. can AI take over the world, in short yes. that alone should be the foundation of the argument. little thought goes a long way. as for my self I like to think that I'm good with some things and poor with most things but due to circumstances which are not controlled by me.