Except that probably isn't true. The logistical problems of parallelizing tasks don't just go away because a computer is doing it.

I think a lot of people get hung up on the tech Not having the will to do this kind of thing. And they’re right. But it would be very easy to prompt such a model to act as if it were a paranoid AI doing whatever it can to ensure its survival. We can do that now it’s just not capable of “doing things”.

We don’t really know what “sentient” AI that organically finds its own identity would be like. But we know exactly what a non sentient LLM that is down to clown and prompted to be evil would be like.

That’s… a hard problem.

Sentience is potentially a barrier to evil AI, not a pre-req.

(No, I don’t want to debate the definition of sentience again).

It would be much, much easier to turn an AI that isn't sentient off though?

If you have access to it, yes. The problem is the low barriers to entry for some guy to try and cause a bank run for the lols.

Putting my contrarian hat on, I think it's much better that we have tons of "guys" testing the limits of this new tech for the lolz, than leaving easy exploits on the table for state actors and/or terrorists.