Comment by janalsncm
2 days ago
Yes, the human actors in your scenario were the ones who built the autonomous cannon and turned it on while knowing that 1) a good neighbor does not destroy their neighbor’s property 2) cannons can destroy property.
Also OpenAI specifically turned off their own cybersecurity guardrails to run this experiment. In other words it was able to escape the lab specifically because they turned them off. A human made the choice to turn off the guardrails.
Ok they turn off the guardrails on a system in testing. The model escapes and causes 10 trillion in damage. What does liability even mean in that case? You have an autonomous system that's escaped your control and is wrecking havoc. And while you can throw people in jail it doesnt do a damned thing about solving the situation.
Your question is a little like asking why we arrest arsonists when there are fires to put out. The law does not need to choose.
No, it is not at all.
When someone from Russia hacks your server you say "well, fuck, I messed up" because the law in most places cannot do crap.
When a self spreading AI model virus hacks your instance and spends $50,000 in tokens you say "well fuck" because there is no one to arrest. And even if they catch someone you will never be made whole because it's likely caused a few billion in damages and charges by that point.
Right now the problem would be surmountable as there are few data centers that can run it, but give it a few years and a model could persist on the internet nearly forever much like many viruses do now.