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ACCount37today at 7:20 PM9 repliesview on HN

By now, I'm pretty confident that some people would keep screeching "it's just a marketing stunt, AI capabilities and AI risks aren't real, they're just doing this to prop up their stocks" even if they find a Cyberdyne Systems T-800 armed with a shotgun breaking down their front door.

"It's a marketing stunt" is just denial trying to look like it's being clever.


Replies

throwa356262today at 7:35 PM

The article claims that AI companies have run stunts like this since day 1.

It does not claim that capabilities are not real.

why_attoday at 9:19 PM

I think you are conflating skepticism about AI companies' motives with skepticism about their capabilities.

Even if OpenAI is being 100% honest in their reporting on this it's still good marketing for them. The fact that this outcome is good for their business and stock price makes me suspicious about how much this was a complete accident vs an "accident" that they allowed to happen by setting up the right environment for it. The company that was hacked is also an AI company, so they also have every reason to boost AI's presence in society's collective mind.

There is a conversation to be had about the possible dangers of AI, but skepticism is warranted when the companies making money off of it are the ones pushing the stories.

>a Cyberdyne Systems T-800 armed with a shotgun breaking down their front door.

For comparison, we've had the technology to make killer robots which automatically aim and shoot at human beings for 10+ years now, long before LLMs got big. But Boston Dynamics or whatever did not manufacture hype to anywhere near the same degree as AI companies are doing.

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HumblyTossedtoday at 7:42 PM

Oh come now. It is very much in OpenAI's best interest to make it sound to naive people that that "AI" decided to go rogue on it's own.

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furyofantarestoday at 8:28 PM

I'm inclined toward your same viewpoint here, except OpenAI's announcement of this came with a blog post that gave off a real bragging/marketing vibe.

To me it's clear that even if it was an accident, they kinda liked it, and don't have this incentive to invest that much in preventing it.

ethintoday at 7:50 PM

Nobody is saying the models are incapable of what was claimed.

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throwfaraway4today at 7:28 PM

My take is why not both? It’s good cover to use something that’s eventually going to happen and their name will be associated with the first.

proto-ntoday at 8:30 PM

yeah well, both the doomers and the "pr stunt" folks are right

- openai wanted to prove, as a pr stunt, that they have a dangerous weapon - openai proved (as a pr stunt), that they do indeed have a dangerous weapon

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JackSlateurtoday at 7:28 PM

Never trust somebody who has so much to gain to be entrusted by you. Best lies are not 100% wrong, they have just the right amount of "right" to fool you.

potsandpanstoday at 7:47 PM

By now I'm pretty confident that some people will keep screeching , "it's not a marketing stunt, these companies really are justified in their trillion dollar valuations, please please please believe them." Even when the economy is crashing around their feet.

"It's not a marketing stunt" is just delusion trying to appear measured and safe.