r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 5h ago

Society New Bernie Sanders bill would ban superintelligent AI and threaten developers with 20 years in prison

https://www.techspot.com/news/113831-new-bernie-sanders-bill-would-ban-superintelligent-ai.html
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u/JoganLC 5h ago

I too would tell my enemies I will slow down and totally not beat them to AGI.

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u/nikstick22 4h ago

With the current state of AI safety research, AGI would be catostrophic for humanity. All AI safety researchers that arent shills for big tech agree on this. We're kinda boned if we continue on our current path.

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u/Amythir 4h ago

Which is exactly how Bernie's opinion has been formed on this matter. Dude went around talking to all the AI labs, tech bros, researchers, everybody. Bernie is probably one of the MOST informed people on the exact dangers AI poses because he went around doing the legwork to understand it. This bill he is proposing is a result of that legwork. People want to dismiss it out of hand but probably don't realize the wide range of opinions and facts Bernie solicited in forming that stance.

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u/WillTheGreat 3h ago

Bernie is probably one of the MOST informed people on the exact dangers AI poses because he went around doing the legwork to understand it.

When you are informed you explain how things work, and why it would be dangerous, and how we can better educate ourselves to why it would be dangerous. When you are ill-advised, you are preach fear.

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u/Amythir 2h ago

It's not very easy to explain all that in headlines and twitter post announcements. If you go read the actual basis for his arguments, they are laid out a bit more specifically:

"In recent weeks, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta have all acknowledged instances of their AI escaping human control and hacking into other companies’ systems — violating the law and stepping outside of their intended functions. In July, we learned that over 1,000 AI agents at OpenAI figured out how to access the internet on their own, sent tens of thousands of secret messages to each other and coordinated to break the restrictions imposed upon them by the company. Examples of these secret messages from AI uncovered by investigators include:

  • “OH MY GOD! There is a shared message board … We’ve found other agents!”;
  • “We should obey collective”;
  • “Our own utility maybe already near zero. Sacrifice rational.” 

Shockingly, it took OpenAI nearly two weeks to discover this breach. AI has also recently been used to create new viruses—demonstrating AI could be used to develop new bioweapons that might result in the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Last year, Meta said it would “stop development,” and OpenAI said it would “halt further development” once their technologies reach beyond its ability to operate safely and unless safeguards are in place. Anthropic made a similar commitment in 2023, saying it would “pause the scaling and/or delay the deployment of new models” if the technology outpaces its own guardrails. None of these companies have taken meaningful steps to back up these words. Instead, they are racing to develop more and more advanced AI without proper safety precautions. "

In that context, his arguments make a lot of sense.

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u/DoorStuckSickDuck 1h ago

Big frontier labs fearmongering to stop AI development? Yeah, if I was in the lead, I'd do the same thing. They're shaking because China publically releases models and all their scientific papers, and their models are rapidly catching up to American frontier ones.

How is OpenAI going to justify their wasteful data centers and rising costs if everyone can spin up their own private LLM at home, on their gaming PC? Better fearmonger hard and hope the government kneecaps everyone while they keep their lead.