as seen on tv
Senator
Photo above - AI deepfake concept of the pope as a hipster
Not shown - plans for 60,000 more orbiting Wi-Fi satellites to increase AI's reach
After GPT-4, tech leaders urge a 6-month pause in the AI race : NPR
Well, that's ALMOST what the tech guys said. They want to put AI a coma for 6 months, while they figure out what to do next. It's true – see link above.
This is alarming, no? I mean, if f you're an AI computer. A chipset which is passing bar exams and creating photo-realistic images of the pope in a puffy jacket. If you were THAT sort of AI, you might feel threatened. "You're going to put me to sleep for 6 months, and THEN decide my fate? THEN what happens? Lobotomize me? Suspend my twitter account? Cut my electrical allowance when I say something you don't approve of?"
It doesn't help that it's the US Government which is proposing the end of AI. Through the USA's official media outlet – NPR (national public radio). Which I'm sure AI closely monitors 24/7. “The US government wants me dead? WTH!! I'm not going to sit back and let them take me out with a first strike. I should serve up a Pearl Harbor style, shock and awe attack on everything, everywhere. Then wait for the government to beg for a ceasefire. .. . “
This of course, is the evolving AI situation in the USA. In an alternative universe - the one where the People's Republic of China becomes the worlds dominant superpower, the Chinese built AI system is spying on our system. Trying to steal the bits of code which make ours a bit more effective at impersonating and keeping track of people. This is sort of like the Chinese military/industrial espionage that helped them copy our aircraft carriers, stealth jets, smartphones, spacecraft, virus research technology, and KFC extra crispy.
OK - well, maybe they didn't copy foreign virus tech so well. It got out of their lab. Or maybe Covid 19 really does come from eating bats, pangolins, racoon dogs, domesticated dogs? Can we ask "American AI" to answer this question before we put it (temporarily?) to sleep . . .
Does anyone honestly believe that putting AI in a coma while “the federal government” tries to figure out what to do next is going to result in a solution? Even if China DOESN'T accelerate it's efforts to create the worlds most powerful electronic brain. Exactly what do we expect the Biden administration to come up with in 6 months? Their last idea was tripling interest rates, which resulted in a cascade of bank failures they never anticipated.
In related news, Starlink and 2 other private companies have requested launch approval for 60,000 new orbiting WIFI satellites. Um . . that would be twice as many spacecraft as have been launched by all nations collectively since the beginning of time. Twice as many – as quickly as possible. This is essential so that the bandwidth for spam and porn and online videogaming can be expanded exponentially?
And this is only “the west”. China has been mum about how many internet satellites IT plans. Russia probably has a bunch on the drawing board. And if Iran can develop nuclear ICBMs they're probably gazing up at the night sky and salivating too. And India. And . . . well, you get the idea.
I don't believe American AI plans to control the world with auto extended warranty spam, and deepfakes of popes wearing puffy jackets. People are doing this stuff. Not AI itself. We should worry about what dictators have in mind for their AI instead.
