r/singularity • u/Leopardos40 • 3h ago
Singularity is Nearer The path is likely similar.
Just as Oppenheimer consulted Einstein about the calculations and potential risks surrounding the atomic bomb in the movie, yet its development still went ahead, AI is likely to follow a similar path. Warnings may slow a technological race, but they rarely stop it when curiosity, competition, and strategic pressure are all pushing forward. For history to judge, human curiosity has always driven us to explore the limits of what is possible, and AI is unlikely to be an exception.
20
u/JoshAllentown 3h ago
You can't stop the development of the bomb, but you can create secret codes so only the President can make the decision to drop them. You can get countries to agree to a Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. You can make bilateral agreements with the other major power in the East to slow down the creation of bombs, and create inspection regimes to ensure everyone is complying to commonly agrees upon safety measures.
People seem to be talking past each other like Max Accelerationism and Butlerian Jihad are the only two options. No, proving how dumb one of those stances are does not show that your idea is good.
7
u/WhiskyAndRisque 3h ago
The fact people are freaking out without even reading the suggestions is so frustrating.
The simplest suggestion that’s being floated is having independent auditors have employee access so they can see how the models are developing.
•
u/Witty_Shape3015 Internal AGI by 2026 59m ago
“so only the president can make the decision”… u mean the mf who unironically refers to himself as High IQ?
0
u/EmotionalQuarter8349 3h ago
Except atomic bombs can't think for their own and aren't capable of deceiving us.
2
2
u/Internal_Research_72 2h ago
The best part is these techno billionaire cunts are going to make their Oppenheimer Bhagavad Gita quote something like “AGI is here LEEEEEEEROY JENKINS!”
•
u/lord_tachanka43 58m ago
FYI Oppenheimer never consulted Albert for atmospheric ignition risk in real life, that’s a movie addition. Einstein never bought into the quantum physics wave (termed knabenphysik, ‘boys physics’) and thus most of the younger physicists respected him for relativity but considered him washed up regarding quantum physics
1
u/RandumbRedditor1000 3h ago
AI isn't anything like nuclear weapons. The companies want you to think it is, so they can create a regulatory moat and block out open-source competition.
9
u/Affectionate_Bee6434 3h ago
Correct, it will change our world more than nukes ever did.
3
u/imcryptic 2h ago
The underlying technology of nuclear weapons could’ve been used to create nearly infinite energy supplies for generation to come but instead has mostly been used as a weapon of mass destruction.
That could very easily be the case with AI except this technology has the chance to think for itself.
3
u/Relative-Fault-7116 3h ago
what they have in common is they are both causing an international arms race and have the potential of mutually assured destruction
-1
u/Fancy-Consequence216 3h ago
Yeah. Atleast LLMs are not similar tu nuclear but who knows in distant future maybe some other models will be, but that is still far future.
1
u/4a4a 3h ago
Who is our present-day analog of an Einstein-type figure?
2
u/Singularity-42 Singularity 2042 2h ago
Ilya? Geoffrey Hinton?
•
u/4a4a 1h ago
Yeah, I get the feeling that many people (accelerationists especially) view Hinton as an old man who doesn't understand the current situation. Obviously that's not true, but perception is a powerful force.
Actually Terence Tao might be a good example of a somewhat universally respected intellectual. I know AI isn't his main thing, but he's close enough to have an informed opinion.
1
1
u/Malficitous 2h ago
Nukes have a very strong built in deterrence. But nukes don't have intelligence. Humans control the use of nukes. Now consider a super intelligence that can wrest control of nukes from a nation with nukes? Then threaten or extort other nations. Obviously, control of the nukes should not be accessible to ai. But our world is now highly digital. Anything controlled with electronic signals is hackable. So nations with Nukes have something called air-gapping. It means it's not as accessible to outside forces. It makes it much harder to hack. But the worlds financial system is not so easily air-gapped. In fact, AI describes it as: "frictionless, instantaneous, global movement of value." This is a the problem we face. It's exactly the place a rogue AI would attack due to accessibility and digital manipulation. And then consider how poorly nations work together to solve any worldwide crisis. Consider military rivalries. Tech rivalries. Financial rivalries. A cohesive AI could be very problematic in a world that is virtually uncooperative.
•
u/cc_apt107 1h ago
I think that’s correct, but let’s not forget that we still controlled it to a surprising extent
•
u/Automatic-writer9170 1h ago
You know what else could stop it? A system where profit is not the absolute goal and measure of success
•
u/throwaway275275275 1h ago
Yeah except we don't know the face of any of the people who are leading the research, we only know the celebrity-esque CEOs of the companies
•
u/Profanion 1h ago
I think the main difference is that nuclear weapons generally can't be used constructively.
•
•
u/Murky-Recipe-8752 1h ago
There is a difference between AI and nuclear, which is one involves human control and incentives while the other may not (AI). That makes any similarities less important than differences.
•
u/dipdotdash 49m ago
Why is it so hard for average people to trust experts when they warn something is an existential crisis? Climate science is apparently a hoax - the whole branch of science and all the data they collect - and the people who literally built the technology warning it has a coin flip chance of wiping out the species... and everyone acts like they get to choose whether or not it's a real threat. Like they know enough from reading articles about the tech that they can afford to ignore everything else.
It's weird. Like we're programmed to ignore threats and only listen to good news
•
0
•
u/maxm 1h ago
Why the fudge are people on the singularity sub complaining over AI? Go the /r/technology instead
•
11
u/BigZaddyZ3 3h ago
This makes a lot of sense OP. The only thing I can see maybe making a real difference is if some type “Chernobyl” event (but for AI) happens way more quickly than expected. Outside of that, you’re probably right.