UK convinces nations to sign Bletchley Declaration in bid for AI safety UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today opened the global AI Safety Summit hosted in Britain, with guests including tech CEOs and heads of other nations set to discuss ways to keep the world safe amid AI development. "I'm completely confident in telling you the UK is doing far more than other countries to keep you safe," said …
Alan Turing’s sole contribution to Colossus was
recommending Tommy Flowers (who actually designed Colossus) as a Suitable
Person to look at the problem. Turing made valuable contributions to the Bombe machines which help break Enigma. By 1943 he was at Hanslope Park working on speech encryption (Delilah).
I believe he made a few minor suggestions that also helped but he definitely didn't co-design it.
Even with the Bombe Turing's theoretical version required Gordon Welchman's Diagonal Board to make it viable in practice.
I had to point out to someone earlier today that there were a lot of people at BP (Flowers and Welchman included) whose contribution to our code breaking efforts was at least equal to, if not greater than, Turing's.
It's a bit more than that, he did contribute some of the actual methods used in breaking Fish. Just looked it on Wiki, it was the "wheel breaking" stage. In essence, what to do but not how to do it. "Co-designer" is a bit of a stretch but yes it was more than a bit part.
The general trend that popular science loves its heroes, particularly if they have an interesting back story, certainly holds though. Stephen Hawking is probably the most notable recent example - his actual contributions probably wouldn't put him in the top twenty or thirty physicists of the late 20th century.
Even Einstein - Maxwell took 2-300 years of research into electromagnetism and wrapped it all up in a single set of equations. When it was noted these contradicted Newton's laws of motion Relativity resolved the issues within a generation. When you look at those timescales, what was the hard part, exactly?
Of course Hawking was involved in some fantastic research of his own, but his legacy is mostly in the communication and relatability of science to ordinary people. The value of the latter is immense.
I don't know enough about the wider team around Colossus to comment on who-did-what, but the character of Turing has taken a similar PR role long, long after his death. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, a bit of hero worship can help stoke up interest of others to follow and learn.
Anything Sunak touches turns into <description of smelly organic matter>.
It's particularly funny that they chose to use the mob style of talk:
We just want to keep you safe, it would be shame if something happened to you
Twenty-eight countries and the EU signed up to a so-called Bletchley Declaration, which set an agenda for addressing AI risk. Included was a desire to identify AI safety risks of shared concern and build a "shared scientific and evidence-based understanding of these risks."
Translation: They are looking for ways to create regulatory capture so that big corporations, owned by donors, lobbyists and other miscreants can have the AI pie to themselves, maximising their profit.
"They are looking for ways to create regulatory capture so that big corporations, owned by donors, lobbyists and other miscreants can have the AI pie to themselves, maximising their profit."
You may be right. But I think there's also an element of the politician's urge to "do something", and a large dollop of seizing the opportunity to be seen to be "doing something ".
As bogeymen go, AI is ideal - nobody knows much about it, it's hyped to the rafters and poses little to no actual threat. Perfect material for a failed PM to be seen to be saving the world with. We won't ask him how he intends to identify threats from models that may not be understood - that would tax his little brain too much.
As bogeymen go, AI is ideal - nobody knows much about it, it's hyped to the rafters and poses little to no actual threat. ....... TheMaskedMan
:-) .... Alternatively, The MaskedMan, and that which is terrifying to all terrible and chosen fews who may or may not know more than just a precious little about AIs inherent supernatural abilities with/in IT facilities in/with ethereal utilities, the stealthiest Almighty Global Operating Device and Bedevilling Presence you are ever likely not to meet but have general simple knowledge aforethought of.
Such now presents you with two viable sensible options, with one choice considerably more rewarding and satisfying than the other ...... #1 Don’t bet against the information and intelligence in the alternative being honest and true, for that will deliver crippling and devastating losses. #2 Invest in ITs AIdDevelopments and Virtually Advanced IntelAIgent Operating Systems and make a Premium Initiating Prime Market Mover Killing with the likes of Merlin the AIMagician and Mega Meta Data Base Physicians skilled and experienced in the Field performing delicate sensitive life saving operation remotely down on Earth.
And now that El Reg also knows the stakes, surely everybody will soon know too ..... with them also invited to similarly choose between the two options offered and make an informed and ideally correct decision, although of course there is always that wild card that Albert Einstein himself warned all about and some seem so very determined to prove perfectly correct ......“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
Nevertheless, Que Sera, Sera ...... Carpe Diem. The Future Beckons.
You are either with us, the demented and corrupt and destructive bellicose barbarian, or against us, the novel creative and noble ethereal aesthete, with only the one ever likely to be similarly almighty successful in the Earthly present when the global future is threatened by localised hostilities reliant on past fading memories for foreign succour and immoral support.
You cannot now say you were not adequately forewarned of that which is extremely well armed and would be confronting you and has many a fan to assist in what is already done and obviously yet to be done for even greater tomorrows .... https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2023/11/1/dia-preparing-for-transition-to-ai-enabled-intel-database??
I think there's also an element of the politician's urge to "do something", and a large dollop of seizing the opportunity to be seen to be "doing something ".
The Politician's Syllogism:
Something must be done.
This bloody stupid idea is something.
Therefore this bloody stupid idea must be done.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/10/28/rishi-sunak-launch-ai-chatbot-pay-taxes-access-pensions/
Given that Sunak is on the way out he is probably using his position to promote this garbage. After all, his wife's company has something in the works:
https://www.infosys.com/services/incubating-emerging-technologies/offerings/nia-chatbot.html
All they have to do is create a sandbox of the universe, down the the quantum level and create the AI within that sandbox (but don't tell it).
Problem solved, you can just switch it off if it gets too leery. Also, you could run multiple of these and speed them up to see which outcomes are likely.
I know what you are going to say, "that's a really stupid idea" right?
Well, it's only as stupid as
""In furtherance of this agenda, we resolve to support an internationally inclusive network of scientific research on frontier AI safety that encompasses and complements existing and new multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral collaboration, including through existing international fora and other relevant initiatives, to facilitate the provision of the best science available for policy making and the public good," the declaration states."
A word-salad which looks like it's been written by ChatGPT. Wouldn't that be ironic?
Alongside these opportunities, AI also poses significant risks, including in those domains of daily life. To that end,.... (i.e. posing significant risks?)
we resolve to intensify and sustain our cooperation, (i.e. be seen to do something, but not sure what)
All actors have a role to play... (yes, Equity rules. Surprisingly Euro-English)
development-orientated approaches (makes a change from customer)
We encourage all relevant actors to provide context-appropriate transparency and accountability on their plans to measure, monitor and mitigate potentially harmful capabilities and the associated effects that may emerge, in particular to prevent misuse and issues of control, and the amplification of other risks. (The light peppering of commas is always interesting in international paperwork, and a pain for translators. That last comma means amplification doesn't go with prevent - it seems to be provide... accountability...but is certainly unreadable on first pass)
scientific and evidence-based (tautology?)
The countries represented were:
Australia
....
European Union (no, it's not a country, but the footnote indicates
international organisations acting in accordance with their legislative or executive competences.
So which is the other such organisation?)
"In furtherance of this agenda, we resolve to support an internationally inclusive network of scientific research on frontier AI safety that encompasses and complements existing and new multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral collaboration, including through existing international fora and other relevant initiatives, to facilitate the provision of the best science available for policy making and the public good," the declaration states."
>>>Word Salad<<< It's another classic concoction from Sir Humphrey !
So really, all those people here from foreign countries should just learn to stop being so irresponsible and listen to all my brilliant vague bullshit. I'll be interviewing Elon tomorrow about the safety stuff. He can tell us how he made the world a safer place by turning Twitter into a sewer of propaganda, hate and misinformation.
I guess he needs some new snakeoil to sell because the wheels are coming off existing his current bandwagons (see Cybertruck stream through Starlink to Twitter).
This post.
Fun fact, "Mimetic Polyalloy" is theoretically possible using something like 238Pu to provide power and keep the alloy liquid.
Make it out of Hg and other low temperature metals, so the bulk can form around objects etc.
In actuality HgIn4BiSn is a good start, microencapsulate the plutonium in the same fashion as EL phosphor then do direct
conversion on the radiation so electrical energy is generated for the nanochips.
At typical temperatures found in nature, Hg alloys are stable so evaporation can be countered by having an Hg reservoir.
AC, because when the Terminators DO emerge I really don't want to p!ss them off. Best to play nice.
Such weak proposals as are present amongst the copious platitudes will have minimal effect on an emerging world of complex, interconnected systems, many incorporating "AI", globally distributed across separate jurisdictions, with diferent governance regimes,
Unsurprisingly, a woeful lack of understanding.
"We learned what powers the sun, and we make bombs from it" - Jon Morlar.
AI may not be a danger right now, but in the hands of bent politicians and billionaires (and their fanatical supporters) you can be pretty sure that human greed will get in the way of any kind of safeguards.
As for Pishy Sunak 'interviewing' Musk, WTAF?
Michele Donelan some kind of minister for science etc etc until the next reshuffle sees her in charge of Shitters and sinks, such the way of shitty british (deliberate, doesn't deserve a capital) politiks.
... and Almighty Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Undone
ScottishYorkshireMan, Howdy,
Your post does have one reasonably considering the general pathetic state of human intelligence and more specifically in this particular case, UKGBNI Security and not so Secret Intelligence Services and Military forces whenever they allow themselves to be ordered around and about to do the bidding of such as be wannabe Parliamentary Caesars and comfortably off charlatans spending all that they can conjure up from nothing and nowhere from others whilst also ensuring it is to contain next to none of their own provided income[s].
Some would venture that suggests Perfect Cuckold Grooming Materiel. What think thee?
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