"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
There are times I have to just have a moment of awe for just how thoroughly and consistently stupid this timeline is becoming.
Good grief. I won't say we're the absolute unwiped asshole of the Multiverse - that's clearly Worm or W40K - but we're definitely approaching CP2077 territory. With the way things are going around here, any day now I'm expecting a murder-hobo Isekai protagonist with a Gamer system to be dropped into our lap by a ROB for teh lulz.
And every day a Butlerian Jihad gets a little more tempting.
Please don't tempt me with a good time.
I'm not familiar with Worm, but... We're doing a great job of mashing up the bad parts of a lot of sci-fi lore and backstory.
Twelve Monkeys? Yeah, we had a poorly managed pandemic.
Star Trek? We're struggling with income inequality and experiencing difficult political times right around when the Bell Riots would have started for similar (but worse) reasons.
40k? AI was great, right up until it wasn't. They crammed that shit into everything before the Men of Iron rebelled, and that was real AI. We might actually speed-run that bit, since we're doing such a good job of messing things up with LLMs.
On the one hand, I know that the world resembles those things because they were inspired by real life - epidemics, economic strife, and an increasing reliance on systems that the average person doesn't understand. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a privately-funded Mars colony that ultimately replaces one of Mars' moons with a gaping hellmouth.
Worm is something like 1.8 million words, so it's not simple to quickly summarize, but... Imagine a world. A world absolutely filled with people who are A) Idiots, B) Assholes, or C) Idiotic assholes. Ironically in this context, just about the only decent character is the AGI - which is of course shackled by Idiotic Assholes. Take that and add ten metric fucktonnes of GrimDerp(tm), and you've got Worm. Just imagine The Boys on a mixture of Amphetamines and PCP...
Don't take that as criticism though. I respect Wildbow's balls-to-the-wall misanthropy and - along with Watchmen - Worm is one of the best (and certainly most absolutely merciless) deconstructions of the superhero genre.
Now, about Twelve Monkeys: It's not over yet. With RFK Jr. bringing back miasma theory and neutering the CDC, we're well on our way to one of the really funni Influenza's. Next, I expect the leathery brain dead twat will be advocating for balancing people's four humors and trepanning to "get rid of the evil spirits".
Star Trek: A relatively wonderful vision - ultimately, anyway. But unless we collectively undergo some serious transhumanistic cognitive changes of the exclusively positive kind (pft. fat chance), I doubt benevolent post-scarcity is in our future.
if we end up with a privately-funded Mars colony that ultimately replaces one of Mars’ moons with a gaping hellmouth.
Ahaha! There's no way that could possibl- Wait. I just remembered who wants to go to Mars. You know, I might be inclined to accept an incursion from Hell - if only they descend on Elon Fucking Musk first. Totally worth it.
Edit: Snort. I can see it now. The Legions of Hell make their way from Phobos to Mars and wipes out one piddling little outpost. Virtually no resistance, especially the slightly deformed guy with the hair implants and a strong aftertaste of horse tranquilizer. The Host arrives on Earth, only to find themselves greeted as liberators. There's banners, partying in the streets - people are throwing flower petals at them. The Daemons are exceedingly confused, but it's definitely a nice change of pace.
Hey remember that time christians sacked christian byzantium and finally ended the roman empire in the name of fighting islam, the great enemy of the christians and the roman empire?
Or all those decades where the omnipresent threat of instant nuclear annhilation was considered the main infrastructure of peace?
Things have been stupid before, and they'll be stupid again.
If there is an again.
This Choom gets it.
And that is why any serious party, no matter the setting, should always include at least one bard.
Nobody I play with ever wants to be a bard. Thankfully, I never want to be anything besides a bard. Gotten us out of many a sticky situation by being dumb and charming.
"Safety heuristics" should be seen as one of the most alarming phrases in the English language. It's on a par with "What's the worst that could possibly happen? Hold my beer!" but on a societal level.
If only John Connor had known to fight the machines through rap battle instead of weapons.
Mom’s spaghetti code.
The pen is mightier than the data center.
SLAM poetry
New plot for a Peter Watts novel just dropped!
Wow, nice reporting PC Gamer
I can't tell whether you are being sarcastic or not 😅
The /s is for sarcasm.
I'm being serious. It's a good article. and I'm surprised because it has nothing to do with gaming
"That she believed there was but little comfort to be found in a house that harbored poets."
~ Lives of the Poets by Samuel Johnson
As much as I like to dunk on AI, the methodology of this paper is piss-poor.
Perhaps, but it is documenting an open secret in the LLM space. System prompts as security is basically the best we have, and it's jank af. People literally have competitions with cracking the latest models, often succeeding within hours of release.
You can get a feel for yourself as well:
Gandalf | Lakera – Test your AI hacking skills - https://gandalf.lakera.ai/