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xp84yesterday at 8:46 PM6 repliesview on HN

This take seems particularly crackpot. If gun manufacturers can't be sued for product liability when used to fire bullets into people, it's rich to say that the manufacturer of a chatbot can be found liable when it mindlessly says "Good point" to people who already have serious mental health problems.

If so, would this program also open me up to liability in Florida?

  const platitudes = ['Good point!', 'You're absolutely right.', 'I agree, let's explore this idea further.', 'This plan is a good idea'];

  var prompt;
  var response = "Hello, AI here, how can I help you?";
  while (true) {
    prompt = window.prompt(response);
    response = platitudes[Math.floor(Math.random() * platitudes.length)];
  }

Replies

JumpCrisscrossyesterday at 8:51 PM

> If gun manufacturers can't be sued for product liability

Guns are explicitly exempted from liability rules. They’re the exception that proves the rule.

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projektfuyesterday at 9:29 PM

It is a little crazy that Florida's politicians want to lay blame for school shootings, which have happened regularly in Florida since long before AI was a thing, although a large number of incidents are not fatal or mass shooting events.

Probably the only response stupider than "Nothing could have prevented this" is "Random thing, other than the mental state of the murderer and the access to firearms, caused this."

show 1 reply
pton_xdyesterday at 9:02 PM

The purpose of a gun is to kill things, whereas the purpose of a chat bot is to help people. They're not really in the same category of tool.

show 4 replies
skdb476yesterday at 8:51 PM

Yes if they can prove you knew it would influence atleast a few chimps and released into the wild anyway.

ericfr11yesterday at 8:53 PM

Florida could then be sued because a doctor didn't stop a pregnancy that killed the mother

beeblebokyesterday at 9:14 PM

[flagged]