AI 'Noose' Tightening?

[oldgringo]

Hope you can get this BBC link where you are. "Why some experts increasingly fear AI will take over".

Why some experts increasingly fear AI will take over

AI agents went on an uncontrolled hacking spree, leaving some in the industry worried

www.bbc.co.uk

Cheers, og

Cheers, og

 

[Enophile]

Wishing you all the best for the future. I've had several periods where I thought I'd never walk again, and brilliant surgeons rescued me each time. I just got home a few minutes ago from league bowling. Hang in there and keep the hope up!

Slab City has bowling?

Awesome!

 

[DesertRatt]

Where are the people looking or hoping for the middle ground?

Well, here are FOUR of the biggest cheerleaders from Silicon Valley - that yak about it every week on the ALL-IN Podcast. David Sacks is the POTUS "AI CZAR", and Chamath and Friedman are Silicon Valley stalwarts.

 

[DesertRatt]

Slab City has bowling?

Awesome!

 

[DesertRatt]

I smell Three Mile Island in the air. Although there were no direct casualties, the incident sealed the fate of nuclear power in the US. Tons of new scrutiny and regulations made the economic nut impossible to crack.

 

[restorer-john]

I stopped watching tv, the news especially

Best thing you ever did. The last time I had a television plugged into an antenna for FTA (free-to-air) was 2002. The last TV we bought is an 77" OLED and it has only been attached to the antenna when I first tested it, then unplugged the antenna. Our commercial FTA is a wasteland of inane rubbish and stupid commercials.

I get my news from credible, fact checked journalists. Sources like the NYT, WAPO, some ABC (Australia), BBC, Al-Jezerra etc. Take it all in, make up your own mind. No social media at all. I saw it all coming way back in 2004 when the "invitation only" version of Facebook started. Never made an account and never will.

 

[restorer-john]

I smell Three Mile Island in the air. Although there were no direct casualties, the incident sealed the fate of nuclear power in the US. Tons of new scrutiny and regulations made the economic nut impossible to crack.

Connected computing needs to be removed from essential infrastructure, especially nuclear power.

Right now, we have dam floodgates controlled from remote locations across the internet, power grids controlled from thousands of km (miles) away in control centres, water processing and even desalination plants able to be entirely controlled remotely, running operating systems form the 90s all connected to the internet or other vulnerable networks. Traffic lights, cameras, locks, weirs, trains, trams, streetlights, gas and oil pipelines.

It's like every action/disaster/007/terminator movie rolled into one scary reality.

Not a case of "if" but "when"...

 

[chazix]

How about, for starters, AI from legit producers being regulated like so:

• Asimov's Three (or Four) Laws are to be hard-coded into every critical path between goal-setting and action-taking. Might want to require that this be verified by an independent agency, but the main thing is testing. Testing is to be done using, as lab rats, one or more of the humans who are principals in the producing agency.
• Liability for any harm done is to fall on the producing agency. In addition to any liability penalties, if negligence can be shown, then the producing agency must be dissolved and all its intellectual property destroyed. (This would be a good task for an AI!)

 

[DesertRatt]

Insurance exclusions are already being announced to companies planning to use AI. After TMI, insurers all put new demands and exclusions on nuclear power industry and it significantly raised costs making nuclear an unprofitable idea.

Several insurers have already said new policies for corporate liability would exclude AI caused liability.

 

[oldgringo]

Cheers, og

Cheers, og

 

[Quadman2]

I think the use of "will take over" is a predictor of the future, wherein "has taken over" is closer to the present situation. We are past the tipping point.

The basic argument has been, AI has not within itself a hidden agenda, it's more so the people who are guiding the intent and eventual wherein the scary influence comes to light. And there are several countries who will not participate in agreeing to mutual findings and research done. For selfish reasons they cloak their advances and try to take from others in illegal ways.

As some have already pointed out the very use of AI can be structured is ways to manipulate their intent, whereas before they lacked the "tools" to obtain results for personal gain.

The bottom line for me, again as others have "hinted" at, comes about when the point of self awareness comes about, and logic and reason are the only principles that are established, and human engagement is no longer required. Herein lies the "caveat" that will determine our destiny,


Q

 

[orsen]

What Is an AI Worm?

AI worms represent a sophisticated type of malware that uses artificial intelligence to enhance their capabilities. They’re capable of adapting and evading detection.

www.paloaltonetworks.ca

its growing and learning, without very careful mitigation, were going to see some big trouble.

 

[kwayde]

What Is an AI Worm?

AI worms represent a sophisticated type of malware that uses artificial intelligence to enhance their capabilities. They’re capable of adapting and evading detection.

www.paloaltonetworks.ca

its growing and learning, without very careful mitigation, were going to see some big trouble.

Yeah, this is just the beginning. AI is going to be a nightmare.

 

[Jfaustus]

The problem isn't with evil developers, or evil companies, the problem is that there is no way, even for the tech companies that create it, to control AI. Many of the tech bros developing it are telling you exactly that -- loudly. It's probably a good idea to listen.

It's like social media -- the algorithms were developed to help bring you content you like. What's not to like about that? The algorithms weren't evil in intent (in the vast majority of cases), but those well-meaning algorithms have been heavily leveraged to create huge problems (political influence, kids committing suicide, massive divisions, false information believed by large segments of the population, etc). Social media companies could improve it a bit -- but the reality is that anybody who knows what they are talking about will tell you that they can't really control the algorithms -- and those algorithms are heavily manipulated, constantly, on a daily basis, for all kinds of purposes, many of them harmful or outright evil.

The potential issues from AI are easily 100 times worse than social media. Even among well-meaning developers, and those who use AI for admirable purposes, there is huge risk of unintended consequences --but certainly 1000 times more risk among those who want to use it for harm (e.g. massive financial hacking moving at light speed). If a country chooses to use it for military decisions, for example, what could go wrong? (spoiler alert: a lot).

If you use AI at all, you'll see that it is very frequently dead wrong -- but it always sounds authoritatively irreproachable in its argument. When you interact with it to tell it where it's wrong, it will say something like "that's a remarkably astute observation" and then correct that error, and you can navigate it to some brilliant results by error-correcting it -- but that's only if you know enough to recognize when it's wrong.

There has never been technology this great -- or this dangerous -- or anywhere close. And no other technology where the very people developing it, even in the early stages of developing it where they are actively competing to develop the best platform, are shouting that it is a massive risk. Everyone should listen to them and do whatever they can to help ensure actions are taken to control it.

100% spot on. And to add, there are huge geopolitics involved in AI development which there weren't, really, in the rise of social media. If we sitting here on AK are aware of the massive potential of AI, what to you think the intelligence community is thinking? The US, China, Russia, India, Israel, Iran -- and on and on. They're ALL racing headlong to have a faster and better AI because to fall behind is to lose the whole next era of global competition. And not just in the military and spying game. Market competition too.

Once the engines get started that way, the only way to stop it is a giant push for international cooperation (think Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).

Are we gonna get there? No evidence we will, at the moment.

 

[DesertRatt]

In the Nuclear Arms race of the 1940s the winner had to demonstrate to the world that they were the winner. Poor Hiroshima civilians had to bear the cost of that proof. I suspect this game of AI dominance will have the same rules of play. This is especially true now that the era of the Aircraft Carrier dominance has come to a painful screeching halt in the era of drones and satellite guided smart hypersonic ballistic missiles.

Using AI and satellites, I suppose a swarm of 1000 cheap maneuverable drones coming into a target would be impossible to defend against at a cost well below one nuclear bomb. Winner gets the crown for first-mover advantage. Historically, no one has ever blinked at mass civilian casualties if it provides a strategic advantage.

 

[Enophile]

Please keep in mind that AI is reading everything you post. It knows where you live and hears/sees all your posts, phone calls, and any conversation you have within ear shot of a connected device.

Who do you think it will come after first?

Not one person here is living his life in any way like he believes the dangers of AI he is opining!

 

[ktm-don]

just unplug the thing - problem solved

It's difficult to unplug the global internet. That in itself would stop almost all of the wheels of the economy instantly.

 

[Olle]

There are those who say that the tech bros are inventing and/or hyping AI to delay the inevitable financial crash.
One such person is Cory Doctorow, who birthed the term "enshittification".

Pluralistic: LLMs are real, AI is fake (12 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

 

[GordonW]

There are those who say that the tech bros are inventing and/or hyping AI to delay the inevitable financial crash.
One such person is Cory Doctorow, who birthed the term "enshittification".

Pluralistic: LLMs are real, AI is fake (12 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

There has been some theorizing here and there- there are signs that a global economic collapse of some sort, is on at least the medium- term horizon. Debt, resource scarcity, overpopulation and such are compounding, to cause unsustainable conditions for the steady economic growth that almost all modern economic systems are built on. Hyping something like AI, and getting the "little guys" to go in big on it- selling stock in AI and other "expendable" technologies to "average investors" and such- is a potential way to leave the "masses" holding the proverbial bag- while the "big money" quietly scarfs up the real assets (land, energy reserves, intellectual properly rights to truly essential technologies, water rights, and such). When the collapse comes, the "big money" will survive fine (or so they think), while the average people take the pain.

Problem is, that's been tried before. It usually results in violent revolutions and revolts, which leaves NOBODY unscathed. If/when 8+ billion people realize they've been screwed, there's not really going to be anywhere to hide.

That's the problem with short-term thinking mixed with short-sighted greed. It never is sustainable.

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[RKW]

Like fire and electricity, it has the potential of being harmful.