Comment by simoncion
2 days ago
> Okay, sure. You can also cut your hand off with a chainsaw.
No, the correct analogy is one where the major LLM providers are selling cars intended for use on US interstate highways and other public-access roads, but have designed and built these cars with the very latest in 1940's safety systems and construction. Featuring innovations such as "Our rigid solid steel construction means the occupant is the crumple zone!", "You'll love the crushed heart and jaw our steering column delivers!", and "Your passengers will enjoy picking glass out of their faces for the rest of their lives when they're ejected from the cabin's open bench seating through the plate glass windshield!", it's a car that will be sure to wow the market.
Well... it would wow the market, except that -in the US, at least- it's illegal to sell a new car intended for use on public roads that ignores the last seventy five+ years of automobile safety lessons we've painfully learned.
"Differentiate between data you know comes from sources you control, data you know you have thoroughly sanitized, and unsanitized data that comes from an untrusted source, or else attackers will gain control of your system." is something that you can't get a CS degree without understanding, and can't be in the industry for more than a few years without encountering repeatedly. We're not talking about designing new cryptosystems... we're talking about "Don't blindly trust everything you're told by strangers.". You don't even need a CS degree to understand that rule.
> the correct analogy is one where the major LLM providers are selling cars intended for use on US interstate highways and other public-access roads, but have designed and built these cars with the very latest in 1940's safety systems and construction
Sure! I'm not defending these fuckwits. I'm saying their form of harm isn't novel.
We don't need new legislation to prosecute and litigate. We just need to enforce the laws on hand. I'm halfway convinced the arguments that this is all novel voodoo are for both fundraising and liability mitigation.
> I'm saying their form of harm isn't novel.
Your initial attempt to brush off my comments about how -contrary to their assertions that they're extremely concerned about safety- these LLM companies produce products that very, very often cause harm due to "misalignment" caused -in large part- by ignoring basic data-handling lessons we've learned over the past like thirty years with "Okay sure. You can also cut off your hand with a chainsaw." indicates your lack of understanding of my point.
> We just need to enforce the laws on hand.
What laws? Be specific.
Keep in mind the generally-low quality of both Microsoft Windows and much-to-most commercially sold software, [0] as well as the fact that -in the US, at least- it's currently totally legal for companies to sell such shitty software, just so long as they don't substantially misrepresent what it can do and trigger "fraudulent claims about the product" consumer protection laws.
[0] ...SaaS or otherwise...
> indicates your lack of understanding of my point
Sure. Help me understand. I've sat in policy circles and partaken in the hysteria, and now I'm reversing on that initial trust in AI zealots convinced what they're building is magic.
> What laws? Be specific
Liability. Tort. The ones making their way through courts around e.g. ChatGPT killing kids.
> Keep in mind the generally-low quality of both Microsoft Windows and much-to-most commercially sold software
Has anyone alleged Windows killed a kid in court? If not, not comparable.
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