Okay, so that AI letter signed by lots of AI researchers calling for a "Pause [on] Giant AI Experiments"? It's just dripping with AI hype. Here's a quick rundown.
First, for context, note that URL? The Future of Life Institute is a longtermist operation. You know, the people who are focused on maximizing the happiness of billions of future beings who live in computer simulations.
https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/
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For some context, see: https://aeon.co/essays/why-longtermism-is-the-worlds-most-dangerous-secular-credo
So that already tells you something about where this is coming from. This is gonna be a hot mess.
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There a few things in the letter that I do agree with, I'll try to pull them out of the dreck as I go along.
So, into the #AIhype. It starts with "AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research[1]".
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Footnote 1 there points to a lot of papers, starting with Stochastic Parrots. But we are not talking about hypothetical "AI systems with human-competitive intelligence" in that paper. We're talking about large language models.
https://faculty.washington.edu/ebender/stochasticparrots/
And the rest of that paragraph. Yes, AI labs are locked in an out-of-control race, but no one has developed a "digital mind" and they aren't in the process of doing that.
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Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)
John Faithfull🌍🇪🇺🏴🧡 ✊🏼✊🏿