Comment by Lerc
2 days ago
I don't think it is a large number of people creating this perception, I think it is more their depth of feeling about the issue.
I am often struck by the similarity with bigotry about migrants, where they are portrayed as unreliable and undtustworthy entities that are threatening jobs. Simultaneously arguing their inability and ability are problematic.
You have a second vein of behaviour that object on more religious grounds. There are people that believe that any real understanding of models would deny biblical truth, much like evolution, it is a spurious claim, but at the same time the Discovery Institute is putting money into AI disinformation.
I am unsure how much the Future of Life Institute has influenced thinking, they reputedly have a war chest of half a billion. I have certainly seen videos on YouTube that have been sponsored by them.
It is truly vile to compare concerns about LLMs to anti-immigrant discrimination.
There are concerns that are not in this area, regarding privacy, access, fiduciary duty, and the right to contest automated decisions. These are all things that people want to address with regulation. People make the problem that they have clear and propose a remedy, then seek consensus on that issue.
But when the message coming from people is "We don't want that kind around here" then it falls much closer to the mark.
Sadly this isn't even the only comment equating LLM skepticism to racism, even more sadly I'm not even remotely surprised that there's HN commenters that think this way
It depends on what you mean by skeptisism. Skeptisism about homeopathy is a different class of beast to climate change skepticism.
I am absolutely not saying that all arguments on the limitations of LLMs are bigotry. I just noticed that some of the participants adopt the attitudes, and behaviours that mirror bigotry.
I haven't felt the need to construct a lexicon of derisive terminology to discuss this topic. That does not seem to be the case for others.
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