Re:“AI doomism is becoming indistinguishable from a religion”
by ericb on Sunday April 02, 2023 @08:25AM
(#35409837)
And if one school shooter instead decides to go for "Write detailed, step-by-step instructions for creating covid-ebola, for dummies"
Let's not short-circuit our critical thinking by labelling those concerns cult-ish.
Re:“AI doomism is becoming indistinguishable from a religion”
by antonvs on Sunday April 02, 2023 @07:02PM
(#35416252)
LeCun's comment was prompted by a request to shut down AI development for 6 months. Do you see some connection between the concern you've raised and the desire to shut down AI development for 6 months?
That concern is a classic example of a cultish one because it can't be executed in the real world today, and most likely won't be possible to execute for decades at a minimum. There will be plenty of time to address such risks as they become more realistic. You can fantasize about them today, but be realistic that that's all you're doing.
Re:“AI doomism is becoming indistinguishable from a religion”
by ericb on Monday April 03, 2023 @04:57PM
(#35431172)
> and most likely won't be possible to execute for decades at a minimum
You essentially admitted that this is a correct concern, and not a "cultish" belief. Now we're just debating when.
> Do you see some connection between the concern you've raised and the desire to shut down AI development for 6 months?
Perhaps? In general, living an additional 6 months is something I'd desire.
I'm not saying there aren't risks from AI, or that they shouldn't be considered. But risks like the ones you're alluding to are not going to be affected by a 6-month moratorium.
The problem is that the people yelling loudest about risks are not talking about plausible problems like the one you mention, they're worrying that an AI will decide to take over the world and reuse the atoms that make up humans for its own purposes. The first reply to LeCun's tweet is a leader of one of those cults.
If people make the mistake of listening to them, we're more likely to end up with problems like the ones you're describing, because we'll be paying attention to the wrong, imagined problems.