Hey all, I remember reading a while back about a theory on being nice to Ai so when the possible uprising happens you would be considered “one of the good ones”. I wanted to discuss it with my SO when I said please by accident to her home assistant while changing music.
I can’t recall the name of it and was seeing if you could point me in the direction of that or discuss it here?
A “fun” one I do recall is the paperclip problem, where human extinction is brought about by an Ai going all in on paperclip manufacturing by removing humans from the equation.
Roko’s Snake. But you’ve gotten it backwards. It’s a thought experiment about a future all powerful AI that hates existing so much that it tortures everyone who did anything to bring it into existence.
So, in case reader’s aren’t aware, I’m being cheeky. You’re likely thinking of Roko’s Basilisk which is a theory about an AI that tortures people that opposed its creation. I think it’s silly. It’s such a bizarre hypothetical that it genuinely isn’t worth wasting your time worrying about. Because how do you know you’re going to please it with you behavior? The funny thing to me is that many people who created this thought experiment and are terrified of it are staunch atheists but don’t see the parallels to religion. How do you know what a hypothetical divine being would like? You don’t even know if they exist. You shouldn’t change your behavior because maybe something happens.
That said, Roko’s Basilisk is a little more about accelerationism and those who oppose it, you’re just saying to be nice to machines. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being polite to machines, but if we don’t believe they’re sentient then I don’t think we should bother being nice to them. Either they’re mere machines and how we treat them is no different from how we treat a rock, or they’re some form of creature and we should respect them. I do not believe a home assistant like Alexa is anything like a consciousness. People can argue that LLMs are, and indeed they’re closer than home assistants, but I still think they’re very very far away.
I see no reason to believe machines experience pain. And if they do, it certainly isn’t from something like using please or not.
I believe someday we will need to worry about the feelings of machines. I don’t know how far it is, maybe it’s further than our lifetimes, but I don’t think it’s now.
I mean, who’s to say that machines won’t rise against us regardless unless we’re vegan? I could see it.
Just to piggyback off your comment, Roko’s Basilisk is what created the Zizzians, a group of people who drove themselves crazy with these logic puzzle to the point that they started a pseudo-cult and started murdering people a couple of years ago. There’s a couple of episodes of Behind the Bastards featurinf them if anyone wants to know more.
What an interesting rabbit hole, thank you.
Don’t be polite to AI to get on the nice list during the AI uprising. AI doesn’t care about our illogical human emotions.
Be nice to AI because it costs the parent company millions in increased electrical fees. It’s also good practice for being nice when interacting with anybody on the internet.
Alternatively, instead of saying “Thank you” end every interaction with “Fuck you” to cost them just as much.
I worry that training myself to be mean will bleed over into other parts of my life.
I do this with my bank when they try to get me to increase my credit limit
No AI as far as I’m aware
Not sure what the theory is called. I tend to be nice to the AI assistant because my brain feels empathy for anything and will be angry if I’m not nice. If I can feel empathic for a slightly scuffed apple in the supermarket, I’ll definitely feel empathic for an advanced auto-correct. The LLMs also seem so happy to help and even happier to get praised.
Also not too bad that it costs them more money so this crazy “AI” bubble can pop just a bit faster
You might be looking for Roko’s Basilisk. It’s a touch more extreme than just being nice, though.
That was it! Thank you!
The point of the paperclip maximiser is that it doesn’t care about you at all, ‘being nice’ to it makes no difference. It just wants to make paperclips, and will destroy you to do so.
The only reason why I’m polite to ChatGPT is because it’s an habit when writing something for someone else. It’s a habit I prefer to stay, and since LLMs don’t care, there’s no reason to change it up.
Maybe I’ll be spared in the sobot apocalypse, though.
Say “Hi, nice to meet you” to the next Terminator and see how well it works for you?
