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Comment by thefounder

14 hours ago

Let’s ban this before it gets too powerful !

I don't think it should be outright banned, automated intelligence is like a gun, hammer, knife, nuclear warhead, etc.

I wonder if every future announcement will be met with this criticism. Like, what's the point if they'll ban it in a few days.

I don't really want the average LLM being able to tell anyone exactly how to syntheize lethal nerve agents.

  • you can already get that information by reading books in the library.

    The biggest barrier is not information, it's the ability to secure enough of the materials and equipment.

    For example, information for how to make a nuclear weapon is already there in the library. However, mining enough yellow cake and then purifying it is an industrial scale operation, out of reach unless you are a nation state, and have good mountain tunnels, etc. To a lesser extent, this is also true for producing chemical weapons. The theory is there, but actual production extremely out of reach. No LLM can help you there. (You can verify by reading up on Aum Shinrikyo to get an idea of the staggering scale required)

    • Sure, information on all sorts of things is in “the library”. But (a) most people in the world don’t have access to a decent library (if you’re on HN you’re statistically much more likely to), (b) most people have no idea how to use one (same), and most importantly (c) AI will distill the knowledge from ten books you might need to read into step by step simple instructions if you ask.

    • > mining enough yellow cake and then purifying it is an industrial scale operation, out of reach unless you are a nation state

      or a transnational (or even national scale) energy and or minerals company.

      Might be hard to slip past the shareholders, but dark projects have flown under the annual reports of several large players.

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