World is approaching point where no one can shut down a rogue AI, says director of body behind research
It’s the stuff of science fiction cinema, or particularly breathless AI company blogposts: new research finds recent AI systems can independently copy themselves on to other computers.
In the doom scenario, this means that when the superintelligent AI goes rogue, it will escape shutdown by seeding itself across the world wide web, lurking outside the reach of frantic IT professionals and continuing to plot world domination or paving over the world with solar panels.
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Uber uses OpenAI to power AI assistants and voice features that help drivers earn smarter and riders book faster across a global real-time marketplace.
AI outperforms traditional weather forecasting in many cases. But a new study shows that when it matters most, current AI models still need to overcome a fundamental flaw.
New research from the Oxford Internet Institute indicates that AI chatbots trained to be extra warm, friendly, and empathetic can also become less reliable, according to the BBC.
The researchers analyzed more than 400,000 responses from five different AI models from Meta, Mistral AI, Alibaba, and OpenAI. The results showed that the “kinder” versions more often gave incorrect answers, reinforced users’ misconceptions, and avoided stating uncomfortable truths.
For example, a friendlier model might deal with conspiracy theories about the moon landing more cautiously instead of clearly stating that they are false.
On average, incorrect answers increased by about 7.43 percentage points when the models were made to sound warmer in tone. Cooler and more direct models made fewer mistakes. According to the researchers, AI makes the same trade-off as humans: it sometimes prioritizes being perceived as pleasant rather than being direct.
As Europe seeks to assert its technological independence from the US vendors Aleph Alpha, once seen as Germany’s sovereign AI hope, is the target of a transatlantic takeover.
Aleph Alpha is set to merge with Canada’s Cohere in a deal that will bring together Cohere’s global AI clout and Aleph Alpha’s background in research. The two companies hope they will be able to develop an AI powerhouse, with backing from their Canadian and German ecosystems
“Organizations globally are demanding uncompromising control over their AI stack. This transatlantic partnership unlocks the massive scale, robust infrastructure, and world-class R&D talent required to meet that demand,” said ” said Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez in a news release that artfully presents the deal as a merger of equals but that, according to a footnote, only requires the approval of the German company’s shareholders, a sure sign of a one-sided takeover.
The combined companies will be looking to offer customized AI in highly-regulated se
