Anthropic co-founder: AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory
AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory, Anthropic co-founder tells BBC
Jack Clark, one of Anthropic's seven founders, told the BBC that an AI kill switch verifiable by a third party may eventually need to be required by law. He said most labs already have ways to pull the plug, but lawmakers could mandate one. The comments land amid warnings from AI researchers about extinction risk, Trump's dismissal of safety fears as a 'hoax', and the UK government's rejection of a kill switch.
We are rolling dice with immense risks. And the point is, we have to change the course of this industry.
- SketchySeaBeast
This feels like doom hype.
These LLMs aren't Ultron, they aren't going to disseminate onto the net and hide in a smart toaster. We know where they are, in the giant facilities that draw more power than a small city and whose water consumption can be compared to golf courses, but it does make them sound all the more cool and powerful if we suggest we need a dramatic kill switch to be able to stop them in case of rampage.
- danieltk76
Why was this not a thing BEFORE continuing to develop AI? Makes me think that if they actually believed in AI causing extinction, they would have already had a kill switch.
- foobar1274278
Dwar Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the sub-ether bore through the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.
He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe – ninety-six billion planets – into the super-circuit that would connect them all into the one super-calculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.
Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then, after a moment’s silence, he said, “Now, Dwar Ev.”
Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.
Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. “The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn.”
“Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question that no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”
He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?”
The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of single relay.
“Yes, now there is a God.”
Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.
A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch
shut.
(Fredric Brown, "Answer". […]
- monological
They're just scared of China releasing better open weights, nipping at their heels. With so much investor cash on the line, they have to create this narrative to scare the public into forcing regulation. Why would they want to be regulated? It seems counterintuitive, but it's because they want regulatory capture.
- exabrial
I'm starting to tire of Anthropic leading the conversation on LLMs lately. I like the company's products, but lately their statements are more about squashing competition under the guise of "safety" and boasting about how good their internal models are.
- petilon
In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the hero defeats the hostile onboard computer by entering its logic core and manually disconnecting its memory modules.
That's hard to do if the AI rack is in space as SpaceX is planning to do. You can't disconnect. You can't shoot it.
- estetlinus
We’re talking about it as if its not depending on absurd amounts of energy. How do you ”kill” a lightbulb now again?
- segmondy
If they really believe it, they should halt the IPO.