Max Kennerly
OpenAI talks about ensuring AI is "aligned with human values" but if the CEO doesn't understand there are downsides to building a nuclear bomb and didn't even notice Mark Zuckerberg was the villain in The Social Network then it's unlikely the company is aligned with human values.
Jul 22, 2023 at 11:53pmWeb
Show threadNash DeBrutus & Short Law FirmJul 22, 2023
@maxkennerly Reminds me of the people who told R. Lee Ermey that his portrayal of the crazy gunnery sergeant in “Full Metal Jacket” encouraged them to join the Marines lol…
Show threadNoah CallawayJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly this is why AI alignment is impossible. Humans don’t agree on values, so there’s no actual agreement on what to align *to*.
Show threadMatunosJul 23, 2023
@ncallaway @maxkennerly there's a whole sci-fi subgenre devoted to the inherent flaw in "aligning" AI with human values
Show threadWendy (prev Jason) AJul 23, 2023
@matunos @ncallaway @maxkennerly I think this is a trap. My pet theory is that human values align much more than we think. And that most of the unaligned portions are due to conservatives intentionally injecting fake morality into the conversation.
Show threadMatunosJul 23, 2023
@norgralin @ncallaway @maxkennerly demagogues are human too
Show threadNoah CallawayJul 23, 2023

@norgralin @matunos @maxkennerly okay, but this becomes a nuclear arms control style problem. As long as nukes are only ever held by rational actors, maybe we won’t all die to nuclear weapons.

But technology has a way of becoming easier to access over time.

Even if we “solve” AI alignment generally, you have the problem of AI being designed by those exact “unaligned humans” that you’re describing (who are, by the way, mostly the people who hold capital in the current system)

Show threadNoah CallawayJul 23, 2023
@norgralin @matunos @maxkennerly So, like, maybe we can theoretically get AI aligned with a common set of human values (though, I think one of the few values we could agree on is “don’t kill ALL humans”, I’m pretty sure “don’t kill humans” wouldn’t even be one of those broadly shared values)
Show threadNoah CallawayJul 23, 2023
@norgralin @matunos @maxkennerly but even then, we have to keep it out of the hands that are best equipped to get their hands on AI. The kind of hands who *currently* have more control over AI than most AI alignment and safety researchers.
Show threadWendy (prev Jason) AJul 23, 2023
@ncallaway @matunos @maxkennerly I’m not arguing for AI. My view is that Sam Altman would misconstrue human values to get the AI equivalent of a toxic libertarian. And then try to tell us it’s moral. Last I looked OpenAI’s definition of AI was inherently exploitative.
Show threadNoah CallawayJul 23, 2023

@norgralin @matunos @maxkennerly I think we’re in agreement, then.

My point was mostly that AI alignment is not a solvable problem, because Sam Altman will say an AI is “aligned” when I would say it isn’t, and when I would say an AI is aligned, Sam Altman would say it isn’t.

Show threadWendy (prev Jason) AJul 23, 2023
@ncallaway @matunos @maxkennerly we are mostly in agreement. My view is basically that the Sam Altmans are probably lying to us and themselves about human values. So we should regard their input as suspicious.
Show threadHalf Cocked LawJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly it's not like Robert Oppenheimer's remark upon seeing the destructive power of the atomic bomb is famous for the horror it expresses or anything.
Show threadJargogglesJul 23, 2023
@halfcocked
@maxkennerly
True story, Oppenheimer googled "badass quotes to say after doing something really kickass" to come up with that line.
Show threadBeeksJul 23, 2023
@jargoggles @halfcocked @maxkennerly his first draft was simply "Oh farts."
Show threadComrade Lion-OJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly They really are the most brilliant ignoramuses. With so much power at our hands now and so little wisdom, I do worry for our future.
Show threadNicole ParsonsJul 23, 2023

@maxkennerly

Mark Zuckerberg sold user data to Russia to get Trump elected and foment a coup, a prolonged pandemic, and a climate denialist onslaught.

Facebook and Meta are paid agents of anti-democracy, just like Saudi-owned Twitter or Chinese owned TikTok has become.

Show threadWilfried KlaebeJul 23, 2023
@Npars01
"Saudi-owned Twitter"? Did you mean "Telegram"?
@maxkennerly
Show threadNicole ParsonsJul 23, 2023

@wonka @maxkennerly

Elon Musk was allowed to buy Twitter with the help of Binance, Larry Ellison, Brookfield, & Alwaleed bin Talal.

All are noted anti-democracy advocates. Larry Ellison even participated in the Jan 6 coup planning with Trump staffers

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/24/elon-musk-twitter-funders/

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/05/larry-ellison-sequoia-and-binance-to-help-musk-to-pay-for-twitter.html

https://gizmodo.com/twitter-elon-musk-finance-1849744679/slides/16

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-15/twitter-brings-on-jpmorgan-as-adviser-alongside-goldman

Here’s who helped Elon Musk buy Twitter

Elon Musk didn't buy Twitter on his own. From Qatar to Jack Dorsey and Binance, meet the people who helped fund the acquisition.

The Washington Post
Show threadLegalQuiltsJul 24, 2023
@Npars01 @wonka @maxkennerly Larry Ellison was also a big supporter of Elizabeth Holmes.
Show threadMaria BustillosJul 23, 2023

@maxkennerly

these guys' views on the arts are consistently more banal and uneducated than those of any random middle-schooler on tiktok

Show threadDelicious TerrineJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly holy shit
Show threadgavinisdie Jul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly "Open" "AI"
Show threadNickJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly Is he being sarcastic? I read it in a sarcastic voice, because it doesn’t make sense any other way.
Show threadtom4okstateJul 23, 2023

@maxkennerly

*watches Zuckerberg manically back stabbing everyone for two hours*

"This is a movie about a successful tech entrepreneur."

Show threadJohn O’DonnellJul 23, 2023
@tom4okstate @maxkennerly
Well, it is, and that’s the problem.
Show threadNot A BirdJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly oh dang. Oh dang. Is there any hope with these tech bro ceos?
Show threadJasmineJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly conservatives really are fucking stupid when it comes to nuance in entertainment. What version of the social network didnhe watch that he thought zuck was the good guy in the story?
Show threadJackenhackJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly we live in a world where a CEO of a successful company doesn’t know how to use Capital letters.
Show threadit's B! Cavello 🐝Jul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly while I think that post is a mess, I think it’s a misreading to say he doesn’t know Zuck is the villain. That IS his point. Like “this other movie glorified the actions of someone who did great harm, but still inspired people to follow in his footsteps, so why not THIS one?”
Show threadDarrel PlantJul 23, 2023

@maxkennerly

I’d think it was still a bit early to know if the movie released yesterday would inspire a generation to do anything.

Show threadEva ChandaJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly
Please tell me this is a parody account.
Show threadJW prince of CPHJul 23, 2023

@maxkennerly
How does he imagine that inspirational Oppenheimer story would go? "One day, you, too may create a weapon that will kill 100.000 people in one go!"...? Does it matter at all that Oppenheimer himself was deeply torn & tormented over what he had made physics do?

"You know, I was hoping that Hitler movie would inspire people to become leaders..."

Jesus tapdancing Christ, what in the name of everloving, actual f**k is wrong with these people & their brains!?

Show threadLewisJul 23, 2023

@jwcph @maxkennerly
The alt timeline was that Hitler made the bomb first and nuked the allies. Camps in every town.

The physics they developed still keeps the lights on in every developed society in the world.

There has been no world war since.. personally I am one of the few human generations that did not face conscription or war over a line on a map.

These are dividends from the physics.

Show threadwebhatJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly some people look at the evil character in a movie and see them as the downtrodden hero
Show threadSteven BodzinJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly 100% right, but I can understand what he's saying about The Social Network. Because of that crucial scene when they get to California and Sean Parker shows up. Suddenly, people are coming to them. That's the dream for a lot of socially inept nerds. Not that I'd know about that
Show threadSeiðrJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly "I hoped this movie about Joseph Mengele inspired a whole generation of you kids to become doctors, but I got disappointed."
Show threadMarta ThreadbareJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly literally the only thing I remember from the social network is the scene where the girlfriend breaks up saying something like "you complain that girls dislike you because of being a nerd, and that's not true, they dislike you because you are an asshole"
Show threadLewisJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly The human values will perhaps be curated by people like musk who control the funding.
Ai renders opinion and that will doubtless be tainted politically as it is in Fox News. The musk ai will be his political weapon against the rest of the world imo. His human values require that he tell lies to dominate everything.
Show threadHelgeJul 23, 2023

@maxkennerly
I guess we're talking hypotheticals? Because AI isn't a thing.

Now I get that a lot of people are calling ChatGPT and its siblings AI, but that's marketing. It's disheartening to read that Biden has gotten companies to agree to "voluntarily" doing something or other with "AI" - as if it's his job to sell the fucking narrative.

Show threadHelgeJul 23, 2023

@maxkennerly
So what about the human values?

Corporations are never going to have human values, never mind valuing humans. Government exists to hold their leash. Instead of bemoaning how CEOs don't understand what human values are, we need to be upset that some people in government think "voluntary" does anything to absolve them of the responsibility to do their jobs.

Show threaddavekarpfJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly “greetings humans. I promise my new technology will be aligned with your values.”
Show threadaethervisionJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly Forget Meyers-Briggs, AI developers should have to pass a Voight-Kampff test before they get funding.
Show threadDaniel S. ReichenbachJul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly just give him some time, next up he will probably tell us that a WW2 documentary should inspire some to follow … 🤢🤮
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 23, 2023
@maxkennerly Hitler was also a human, so that "human values" is pretty much bs.
Show threadElaine (they/she) 💜🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈Jul 23, 2023
Per the 7th tenet, The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word. Written human values are not equal to compassion, wisdom, and justice; law and regulations != the right thing!
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 23, 2023

@elaine @maxkennerly exactly!

Neither are moral and law connected to each other necessarily.

Show threadkaterbergJul 24, 2023

@maxkennerly also a 3 hour R-rated Biopic is about the worst format for this kind of movie.

Hidden Figures exists. Watch that for this goal.

Show threadAndy WoottonJul 30, 2023
@maxkennerly Some humans have really bad values.