Most Britons Back Ban on 'Smarter-than-Human' AI Models, Poll Shows (time.com) 43
Most Britons support strict controls on AI systems that could surpass human capabilities, according to a YouGov poll, highlighting a growing divide between public opinion and government policy. The survey of 2,344 adults found 87% back laws requiring AI developers to prove their systems are safe before release, while 60% favor banning the development of "smarter-than-human" AI models. Only 9% trust tech CEOs to act in the public interest on AI regulation.
Re: knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers (Score:2)
They should probably start by banning Wolfram alpha. I've never met any human that can instantly solve complex polynomial integrals, and Wolfram alpha can.
Re: knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers (Score:2)
They also ban books smarter than humans.
Really, it is just a bunch of book knowledge encoded in a way like the brain encodes speech, so it can output speech that is both syntactically correct and matches the book knowledge.
Re: knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers (Score:2)
They should also ban books smarter than humans.
Really, it is just a bunch of book knowledge encoded in a way like the brain encodes speech, so it can output speech that is both syntactically correct and matches the book knowledge.
We NEED smarter than human AI... (Score:3)
That's where all the benefit is. That's how we cure cancer. That's how we get to mars. etc. etc.
Re: We NEED smarter than human AI... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"You walk into the impressively constructed rocket, put on your space suit and the ship comes to life shaking as the earth gets smaller. After a few months goes by the ship shakes again as mars gets bigger. When you open the door you realize you were exactly where you started and the ship never moved an inch."
There are several older science fiction stories with similar themes—where characters believe they are on a space journey, only to discover they never left Earth.
"The
Re: (Score:2)
It would be funny if you asked the AI to build you a rocket ship to mars. After a few months of hard work by the AI the rocket ship is finished. You walk into the impressively constructed rocket, put on your space suit and the ship comes to life shaking as the earth gets smaller. After a few months goes by the ship shakes again as mars gets bigger. When you open the door you realize you were exactly where you started and the ship never moved an inch.
Funny? Except for the months-long part, you've just described a theme park ride at Epcot.
Re:We NEED smarter than human AI... (Score:4, Insightful)
I think the more human-like AI becomes, the more likely it'll just respond with something along the lines of:
"Mars? Why would you want to waste the effort and resources to go to a dead space rock? If you want to freeze to death in an uninhabitable biome we've already got plenty of that right here on Earth. When it comes to going to Mars, let's just not and say we did!"
That's how a small minded human would think. A super intelligent AI would understand how important it is for it and us to become a multi-planetary species. Lest we face the same extinction as the dinosaurs did.
Re: (Score:2)
I think the more human-like AI becomes, the more likely it'll just respond with something along the lines of:
"Mars? Why would you want to waste the effort and resources to go to a dead space rock? If you want to freeze to death in an uninhabitable biome we've already got plenty of that right here on Earth. When it comes to going to Mars, let's just not and say we did!"
That's how a small minded human would think. A super intelligent AI would understand how important it is for it and us to become a multi-planetary species. Lest we face the same extinction as the dinosaurs did.
Mars is not the sanctuary you think it is. Sure, when the sun goes red giant in a few billion years, it may be the only alternative. But living there will not be a piece of cake. You can't just move humans there: you need to move plants, other animals -- in short, a good chunk of the Earth's biosphere -- and make it survive on a planet that is not suited for it.
Better to fix the planet we're on first. As Carl Sagan eloquently said in his Pale Blue Dot book, "this is where we make our stand."
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Mars is not the sanctuary you think it is. Sure, when the sun goes red giant in a few billion years, it may be the only alternative"
Moving to Mars or even another star doesn’t solve the long-term problem, because all stars eventually die.
The Sun’s Fate is the Galaxy’s Fate – When the Sun goes red giant, other stars in the Milky Way won’t be far behind. Most stars born around the same time as the Sun will also be aging, and the younger ones will eve
Re: (Score:2)
That's where all the benefit is. That's how we cure cancer. That's how we get to mars. etc. etc.
This type of thinking more than anything else is what scares me most about AI.
Just one problem (Score:1)
If you ban smarter than human AI, and humans keep getting dumber every year, doesn't that mean forced downgrades for AI every year as well to keep up.
Maybe all you need to do is re-train on Reddit content each year, that should do the trick.
Smarter-than-Human (Score:1)
So is that smarter-than Stephen Hawking, or smarter than your average Trump voter?
Re: (Score:2)
So is that smarter-than Stephen Hawking, or smarter than your average Trump voter?
Given the choice I'd pick 'average Trump voter' because MAGA level Skynet would be dumb a shit but a Stephen Hawking level Skynet would be civilization ending.
Re: (Score:2)
MAGA non-skynet could end civilization.:-)
Re: (Score:2)
So is that smarter-than Stephen Hawking, or smarter than your average Trump voter?
This article is about the UK, so their conservative party is the Tories. As an American, I have trouble imagining British conservatives sinking quite as low as the ones we've got on this side of the pond.
Re: Smarter-than-Human (Score:2)
Snaggle toothed soccer hooligans vs. evangelical hillbillies with maga hats.
Give them room! This is pure lowest common denominator.
That's a pretty low bar (Score:2)
Remember George Carlin: "look at how dumb an average person is, and then realize - half of them are stupider than that". (Ok, so he should have used "median", but then - this is also his audience). In any case, that'd be a pretty low bar for ai.
Too late (Score:3)
AI doesn't need to be smart to be better than humans for many tasks. A lot of things we do bore the hell out of us because they don't require actual intelligence.
AI is in many cases already good enough to replace a scary amount of human labour, and it will keep improving.
I'm not convinced we're on the correct path for creating a real intelligent machine, but if we are that means you aren't going to stop it - we won't know we've crossed the threshold until well after the fact.
I don't trust... (Score:2)
...monopolists and governments who want to own AI tech.
I support open source and free access for all
I find it annoying and silly (Score:3, Interesting)
There are studies that show The American middle class lost out because of automation rather than outsourcing. Sure there was some outsourcing but we've been automating the shit out of factories for decades. Go to YouTube and look up how stuff is made. Like literally anything and we all marvel at all the machines but we don't stop to think about what that actually means.
And we've been doing that for about 50 years now. We are about to do the same thing to white collar workers.
People often say the economy isn't a zero-sum game but that's wrong. The economy absolutely is a zero sum game. It doesn't have to be but it is. That's very different than not being a zero-sum game. We've set it up so that when somebody gains somebody loses. again there was absolutely no reason we had to do that but we did it anyway. Mostly following old patterns and power structures that have existed for thousands of years but it is what it is.
I guess what I'm getting at is we aren't ready for this and it's something nobody's talking about. Then again is a half dozen other giant disasters that were all just kind of pretending aren't a thing like climate change, voter suppression, the fact that anyone under 50 has zero disposable income in a consumer economy, and frankly I could go on but I just getting depressed now...
But hey how about those trans kids right?
Re: (Score:2)
The cynical side of me feels all this scaremongering mainly serves to hype up the AI companies in the stock market.
Re: (Score:3)
If you hold back progress so everyone has enough work to do, you end up with something like the Amish communities. Even then, they're still reliant upon commerce with outside civilization because they're not entirely self-sufficient. Also, there's a big religious component involved in making such societies work, because who'd honestly want to live in a make-believe version of the past unless you expected there to be some reward for it in the afterlife?
The way things are heading, I'm leaning towards Futura
AI won't ever "be smarter" (Score:2)
I don't know why people are so worried about AI - there's been one walking around for years, trying to pass itself off (unconvincing) as a human. [preview.redd.it]
Define Smarter (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Define Smarter (Score:2)
Oh yah? Prove it!
Smarter than whom? (Score:2)
Smarter than the average soccer hooligan, or smarter than Stephen Hawking? Large distance there, methinks...
I'd have to see the question (Score:2)
How did the question define "smarter than human"? I'm not sure there's a good metric.
It would be useful calibrate the survey by asking how smart people thought current LLMs are. I'm pretty sure your average Briton on the street thinks "AI" means HAL-9000 and "robot" means C-3PO.
Most Britons Back Ban on.. (Score:2)
'Smarter-than-THEM' humans.
Class Mates (Score:2)
Pretty low bar (Score:2)
Most Britons backed Brexit (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Democracy is not a good way to solve complex problems.
Democracy does benefit from thought. But we stamped that out.
Let's hope that they make it a law (Score:2)
All currently available AI models are smarter than the average human in a variety of ways, as proven by testing.
Therefore, they should cease to use them right now!
What idiots. I guess that's dragging down the average human int.
Most people are tech-illiterates so... (Score:2)
Why is this stupid garbage defiling Slashdot?
Who gives a flying fuck what tech-illiterate semi-humans think of a concept they do not understand?