• US Govt Pols Now Backing 'AI' "Pause" Recommended by Musk, Wozniak

    From 22T.R732@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 31 00:31:55 2023
    The US govt is getting involved in 'AI' development.

    As top tech people have become spooked by ChatGPT and
    similar software they urged the govt to take action
    to "evaluate" the downstream effects of Chat on all
    manner of human activities, including job markets.

    Chat 3.5 is already scary "smart" - it can pass the
    old Turing Test easily ... coming across as some guy
    you met at Starbucks. Chat 4.0 is almost ready for
    prime-time ... wider capabilities, smoother delivery.

    Chat also has the unsettling ability to write, and
    then improve, computer programs to handle whatever
    you want. This is basically the ability to rewire
    its own "brain".

    What would happen if you let a bunch of Chat instances
    talk to each other for awhile ?

    Rule of thumb - if you fake something WELL ENOUGH
    then it isn't fake anymore.

    In any case, govt pre-emptive suppression of a rapidly
    emerging broad technology based on worrisome possible
    uses/misuses is rather rare. Likely some EU govts will
    take the same tact.

    Of course Russia and China have likely already stolen
    the Chat code and will put it to THEIR uses ... which
    will quickly result in an "AI Gap" with serious national
    security implications.

    Seems like someone in comp.ai deleted the earlier version
    of this - so I'm spreading-out this one so you can't get
    at every copy. Gonna SAVE it too ... and have no problem
    re-posting every day for months. What Musk and friends
    have done directly impacts all 'AI' work - commercial
    or academic. You did your jobs TOO well - now it's
    frightening people - and Chat (so far) doesn't even have
    an actual 'consciousness'.

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  • From Tristan Miller@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 31 03:12:53 2023
    Greetings.

    On 2023-03-31 06:31, 22T.R732 wrote:
    Seems like someone in comp.ai deleted the earlier version
    of this


    Your earlier post was automatically rejected by the moderation software
    for excessive cross-posting. (You had submitted your article to talk.politics.misc, alt.survival, alt.politics, and alt.politics.usa in addition to comp.ai.) Don't cross-post and your submissions will not be automatically rejected.

    Regards,
    Tristan
    comp.ai moderator

    --
    Dr.-Ing. Tristan Miller, Research Scientist
    Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI)
    Freyung 6/6, 1010 Vienna, Austria | Tel: +43 1 5336112 12 https://logological.org/ | https://punderstanding.ofai.at/

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From 22T.R732@21:1/5 to Tristan Miller on Sun Apr 2 08:07:23 2023
    On 3/31/23 3:12 AM, Tristan Miller wrote:
    Greetings.

    On 2023-03-31 06:31, 22T.R732 wrote:
    Seems like someone in comp.ai deleted the earlier version
    of this


    Your earlier post was automatically rejected by the moderation software
    for excessive cross-posting.

    I am allowed 5 x-posts - so I used them.

    The subject in question touches on a number
    of relevant groups. This is not just an
    "academic" exercise anymore - but a social/
    political thing at the highest levels.

    Amazing how it all moved so quickly.

    In comp.ai there is a very relevant issue as to
    how this will affect the more "academic" aspects
    of 'AI' research, short/medium-term. There is also
    the relevant, 'Frankensteinian', aspect of having
    to consider what the fruits of genius might actually
    do to the world.

    What I *objected* to was that your deletion HERE
    managed to propagate to all the OTHER groups included.

    But nevermind, I seem to be getting fair traction
    elsewhere. This HAS become one of the "major issues
    of our time" it seems. Won't be long at all before
    the US govt, likely the EU as well, starts making
    edicts (probably ill-considered). Musk, Woz and major
    friends have now STARTED something. I think their
    letter may reach similar importance to the one
    Einstein and friends sent to Roosevelt about the
    possibility of atomic weapons.


    (You had submitted your article to
    talk.politics.misc, alt.survival, alt.politics, and alt.politics.usa in addition to comp.ai.)  Don't cross-post and your submissions will not be automatically rejected.

    Regards,
    Tristan
    comp.ai moderator


    I *think*, long long ago, I had conversations with
    Marv Minsky in this group.

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  • From Tristan Miller@21:1/5 to All on Sun Apr 2 08:23:37 2023
    Greetings.

    On 2023-04-02 14:07, 22T.R732 wrote:
    On 2023-03-31 06:31, 22T.R732 wrote:
    Seems like someone in comp.ai deleted the earlier version
    of this

    Your earlier post was automatically rejected by the moderation
    software for excessive cross-posting.

      I am allowed 5 x-posts


    Says who? Every moderated group (and indeed, every news client and
    every news server) can set its own limit on the number of cross-posts.
    You need to comply with *all* of these limits in order for your posts to
    make it through.

      What I *objected* to was that your deletion HERE
      managed to propagate to all the OTHER groups included.


    I didn't delete anything, and so there was nothing to "propagate". Any
    time you submit an article to a moderated group, even if it is
    cross-posted to other unmoderated groups, then it needs to pass
    moderation *before* it appears anywhere on Usenet. Your article was not deleted from the other groups because it never appeared in them in the
    first place.

    Your article was clearly on-topic here and you're welcome to continue
    the discussion here so long as you don't cross-post. I've started
    another thread on the question of whether to allow cross-posting to comp.ai.

    Regards,
    Tristan
    comp.ai moderator


    --
    Dr.-Ing. Tristan Miller, Research Scientist
    Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI)
    Freyung 6/6, 1010 Vienna, Austria | Tel: +43 1 5336112 12 https://logological.org/ | https://punderstanding.ofai.at/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From 26B.X919@21:1/5 to Tristan Miller on Fri Apr 7 03:12:10 2023
    On 4/2/23 8:23 AM, Tristan Miller wrote:
    Greetings.

    On 2023-04-02 14:07, 22T.R732 wrote:
    On 2023-03-31 06:31, 22T.R732 wrote:
    Seems like someone in comp.ai deleted the earlier version
    of this

    Your earlier post was automatically rejected by the moderation
    software for excessive cross-posting.

       I am allowed 5 x-posts


    Says who?  Every moderated group (and indeed, every news client and
    every news server) can set its own limit on the number of cross-posts.
    You need to comply with *all* of these limits in order for your posts to
    make it through.

       What I *objected* to was that your deletion HERE
       managed to propagate to all the OTHER groups included.


    I didn't delete anything, and so there was nothing to "propagate".  Any
    time you submit an article to a moderated group, even if it is
    cross-posted to other unmoderated groups, then it needs to pass
    moderation *before* it appears anywhere on Usenet.  Your article was not deleted from the other groups because it never appeared in them in the
    first place.

    Your article was clearly on-topic here and you're welcome to continue
    the discussion here so long as you don't cross-post.  I've started
    another thread on the question of whether to allow cross-posting to
    comp.ai.

    On the whole I agree with your concerns. I started with Usenet
    way on back, when it was still "civil". It is no longer "civil".
    Allowing cross-posts, or many cross-posts, is likely to result
    in chaos, flame-wars and worse. I have seen many groups go that
    way and a more 'academic' group like comp.ai does require some
    sort of shield ... yet one that cannot over-tax any moderators.

    However 'AI' has finally reached a state and form where it is
    no longer just "sci-fi musings" but a tangible, sometimes
    threatening, influence on global civilization. Musk and a fair
    number of other prominent tekkie figures are now seeing that,
    and SAYING something about it. This has attracted considerable
    attention, even at the highest levels - regulatory/policy/funding.

    As such, 'comp.ai' is no longer as obscure as it ought to be,
    it's suddenly part of a big 'something'.

    I am not sure what is required these days to create a new
    Usenet group. I would suggest something like "comp.ai.policy"
    to absorb the large-scale, oft crap, postings while still
    being sort of "on target" to those most involved in 'AI'
    research.

    The near-term future of 'Chat', 'Bard' and related approaches
    to, hmm, 'human emulation', is not entirely clear. There DOES
    seem to be a potential for rapid SELF-improvement with these
    sorts of systems. The human mind is in many ways a "hall of
    mirrors" and that effect CAN be emulated ... the system
    observing itself, the world, the effects of the world on
    itself and so forth - making continual improvements.

    People, politicians, money interests and such DO need to worry
    about a Chat-5.0. There are likely many paths to de-facto
    "consciousness" and Chat and/or friends may indeed be one of
    those. "Emulate", "fake", something WELL enough and it is not
    really "fake" anymore ... just "consciousness", "being", by
    alternate means. That has broad *implications* that have,
    until now, been pure sci-fi.

    I saw in the news yesterday that Wal-Mart corp is going to
    fire most of its human warehouse/shipping humans and
    replace them all with 'AI'/"Expert Systems". It tried to
    spin that as the fewer humans getting easier, better-paying,
    jobs. However that leaves the 99% unemployed. Not the ONLY
    corp moving in that direction. This is serious, this is of
    economic significance, this is *political*.

    Remember about a year ago when a Google 'AI' expert came
    to the conclusion that his system WAS effectively
    'conscious' ? They FIRED him for saying so.

    Hmmm ... how many 'AI' profs/experts can Chat-5.0 replace ?

    Beginning to 'get it' ??? :-)

    Mary Shelly was prescient.

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