Schneier tries to rip the rose-colored AI glasses from the eyes of Congress

Security guru Bruce Schneier played the skunk at the garden party in a Thursday federal hearing on AI's use in the government, focusing on the risks many are ignoring. "The other speakers mostly talked about how cool AI was – and sometimes about how cool their own company was – but I was asked by the Democrats to specifically …

[that one in the corner]

centi-billionaire Elon Musk

Centi-billionaire? FFS where are you people getting this ridiculous usage from?

If you really must try to slam extra syllables onto words, at least try to remember junior school and use hectobillionaire. Easy enough to remember: "he has how much money? Blooming heck(to)".

I know, I know - you heard someone else use it and it sounded a bigly long word, which makes it clever, so it's better to use it than risk pointing and laughing at the idiot who doesn't know what they are saying.

PS listen to Schneier

[jake]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

Knowing ElReg, they used the word just to get somebody's knickers in a twist.

It seems to have worked.

It's Friday evening. Relax, have a homebrew.

_{PS Yes. Listen to Schneier.}

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

Alternatively deci-trillionaire (not to be confused with desi-trillionaire).

☛ Listen to Schneier.☚

[Arthur the cat]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

Alternatively deci-trillionaire

Or we could borrow from Indian numbering and call him a lakh-millionaire.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

dick billionaire surely

[that one in the corner]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

> It's Friday evening

Sorry, wrong continent.

It was very much Saturday morning. Should have just stuck with catching up with "On Call" but no, have to read this one as well....

[jake]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

OK, Fine!

It's Saturday morning. Relax, have a homebrew. :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

NOPE. See here ...

Prefix centi-

1. one-hundredth

(specifically) In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 10⁻². Symbol: c

2. hundred

Synonyms: hecato-, hecto-

example: centimillionaire

[that one in the corner]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

> NOPE. See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/centi-

Your comeback is to reference - wiktionary? You think wiktionary is reliable or authoritative?

That is hilarious!

My post-midnight rant has at least borne some fruit.

PS

Best bit is, amongst their litany of twaddle and illiterate neologisms, they do mention the one common word that does use centi- "badly", which is because it predates the (now far more common, hence "correct", and useful) SI prefixes. To save the embarrassment of quoting wiktionary all you had to do was use some nous and just write the single word:

CENTIPEDE

[Ropewash]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

Etymology finally meets entomology.

You could also have mentioned the Roman numeral C.

[Ancientbr IT]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

Centi-metre? Equally millipede but milli-metre?

[Alumoi]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

Hold your horses, they mean he's a billionare in cents.

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

I’ve seen some pretty impressive centipedes in my time, but now I can’t wait to see a pede.

[O'Reg Inalsin]

That creeping centipede Elon Musk

The rules must follow the English language, not the other way round, much like rulers don't follow rules, but only make them. Ask Elon about that.

[EnviableOne]

Re: That creeping centipede Elon Musk

Murphy's golden Rule: The one with the Gold makes the rules

[Roj Blake]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

I suppose they think a centimetre is a hundred metres.

[Groo The Wanderer - A Canuck]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

You expect them to understand simple math and measurements? You are an optimist!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: centi-billionaire Elon Musk

OMG the culprit has been uncovered. It’s “you people!”

[HuBo]

"grave privacy risks for millions of Americans"

Yeah, you'd think that rep. Burchett, who said "Congress must prioritize safeguarding Americans’ privacy" in the "AI-boosting summary", after sponsoring the 2006 bill to illegalize Salvia divinorum in the state of Tennessee -- a plant that causes people to act like LLMs (inducing dissociative states and hallucinations) -- would have been a bit more cluesome about all of this (through phytomorphism). But no, he just went along with the "dominance over the Chinese Communist Party" in the AI-opium trade tirade ... so disappointing!

If even the professional wrestling cosplay anti-fentanyl folks promote AI-oxycodone as the hillbilly heroin LLM way to go, and chihuahuas, what hope do we have for an AI-drug-free American privacy and security focus I wonder, imho????

[m4r35n357]

Re: "grave privacy risks for millions of Americans"

Do you think it a good thing that bullshit psychobabble passes for political debate?

Can you see any downsides?

[HuBo]

Re: "grave privacy risks for millions of Americans"

Definitely! And to dig myself in deeper (as needed per protocol), I'd venture to suggest at this point that the Federation is now under full control of loyalist TikTok Kardassians (cf. extraterrestrial explanation icon).

Burchett's³ 5:15 YT (at the end of the AI-boosting summary linked in TFA) is a great example of this imho. He courageously (in a way) brings up privacy concerns based on a 1972 AMC Gremlin with eight-track tape player argumentation (a must-see!), only to be summarily blackeyed by Thierer's let's not put the safeguards cart before the AI horses counterpunch. Presumably, the same thinking should apply to, I don't know, oxycodone (or even Salvia divinorum)?

Then again, maybe it was all just for show (in true professional wrestling madministration style) as he directly asked his privacy question to Thierer, rather than Schneier ...

_{³⁻ Burnett is the only one who's raising of privacy concerns is mentioned in Mace's Subcommittee's summary}

[HuBo]

Re: "grave privacy risks for millions of Americans"

[Conclusion] Yep, loyalist TikTok Kardassians indeed!

Just watched the bulk of the full 4h long subcommittee meeting at 1.25x speed (from Schneier's blog post, linked in TFA), and yeah, it was bipartisan (a Dem roughly every 10 minutes, interleaved with a Rep, eg. Mfume, Brown, Randall, Garcia, Crockett, Lee, Simon, ... Pressley, Moskowitz, Trahan, at 1:44, 1:54, 2:15, 2:25, 2:47, 3:07, 3:18, ... 4:00:30, 4:04, 4:09:30) and just about all of these Dems asked questions to Schneier, many about DOGE, and Palantir, and Groq, and privacy, and some about NIH funding (Randall), RFK's HHS AI slop (Garcia) and the SSA's encoding of beneficiaries' ages in COBOL (per the 150 year-old DOGE bullshit) ... With Bell (3:50) there's even mention of the DOGE brownshirt wankers' AI automechanically deleting the Jackie Robinson and Enola Gay memorial web sites ...

And even on the Republican side, with Luna (3:34), and Crane (3:44), there are concerns expressed about transhuman RotM AI, biases, employment, haves and haves not ... And should one mention (chairwoman at that time) Taylor Greene's 3:12:30 comment that the 10-year State AI memoratorium (as she calls it) is utter and complete crap so she won't vote for the Big Balls Bill of pork barrell puke again ... quite entertaining!

Thierer answers the question of why Burchett asked him the question about privacy (rather than Schneier) at 1:53:30; he was essentially preparing himself in advance for the next buttcrack gap feeler gauge loyalty comptrol by widely parting his buttcheeks for a much clearer elocution!

And so, overall, yes, the "AI-boosting summary" of the sucommittee hearing is a goddam crying shame of utter partisan hypocrisy and dishonesty, even by the lowest of Professional Wrestling Porno Cosplay Standards of the Incubus Orange Offal Orifice's madministration. Out of 6 YT clips there, a good 3 should be of Dems (bipartisan), and at least as many should feature a response by Schneier, who should also be quoted at the end with Thierer, Bajraktari, Shaw, and Miller.

His Stalin-like erasure from the Press Release Wrap Up (aka summary) surely results from overuse of oxycodone (or even Salvia divinorum) by some (likely) extraterrestrial body, and chihuahuas, imho! (after all, what other possible explaination could there be?!)

[Yes Me]

Re: "grave privacy risks for millions of Americans"

The people downvoting HuBo are either (a) totally misunderstanding him/her, due to lack of \s or (b) frothing MAGAts.

[HuBo]

Re: "grave privacy risks for millions of Americans"

Thanks for that! Especially in these trying times where Incubus Orange and his personal-hygiene-challenged Defense Sec. aim to Make 1989 Tiananmen Square Great Again by sending the Marines into downton LA ... Clearly, the sentence for thoughtcrimes against the Orange Ayatollah Newspeak edicts is now the firing squad!

¡Illegitimi non carborundum!

[Anonymous Coward]

What to say?

A top expert tells congress they seriously messed up with possibly irreparable damage to the security of the country. He also informed them they have fallen for a scam.

What else to do than to ignore the message? Maybe no one will notice if no one talks about it?

[tonique]

Re: What to say?

Certainly that was the expected outcome. Schneier spoke the way he did because of his integrity, which is often lacking in the US congress.

[jake]

Re: What to say?

Often?

Congrats! You've won the Understatement of the Month Award!

[kmorwath]

Amendment Zero

"Nothing will stand in the way of rich, powerful people getting richer and more poweful"

That's the unwritten Constitution rule that explain today's USA. Congressmen believe they are above the risks the "common people" will have to face, but as Schneier warned them, they won't be. Put too many power into too few hands, and everybody is at risk.

[jake]

Re: Amendment Zero

Yeahbut ... Have you seen the piddly little salaries that the congress-critters and senators draw? It's close to what is considered a living wage for a family of five in San Francisco.

A congress-critter's salary is $174K/year. The living wage in San Francisco for two adults (one working) with three dependent kids is a tick over $133K.

One wonders how our elected officials think they can afford to maintain a Friendship with Trump ...

_{Living wage numbers from MIT: https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/06075}

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Amendment Zero

I suppoe the reasoning is to ensure nobody goes into it for the money...

[Yes Me]

Re: Amendment Zero

Which has (and always had) the unintended side-effect of encouraging corruption (often curiously described as "lobbying").

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Amendment Zero

"Have you seen the piddly little salaries that the congress-critters and senators draw?"

Many members of Congres are millionaires.

[Scene it all]

Re: Amendment Zero

And they get a LOT of money from places other than mere "salaries".

[EricM]

But they know their duty.

"The federal government has a responsibility to harness this technology to make government work faster and more efficiently for the American people," she said."

Or in short: "The federal government has a responsibility [...] to make government work".

They just need to understand that unleashing the currently available AI on the government will basically result in a non-working government.

It might be fast. It might be regarded as efficient - in case correcting errors is cheap.

But it will no longer work correctly.

[Adair]

Reality speaks

... in a room full of sycophantic ideological idiots.

Does reality get taken seriously?

[jake]

Re: Reality speaks

I'll bet you a plugged nickle that absolutely nobody who was there in person could tell you a single word that Bruce said, in context or otherwise.

This includes the Press, BTW. Kinda sad when the only profession called out specifically in the Constitution fails to do their job. Constantly.

[Eclectic Man]

Re: Reality speaks (aside)

There is a new BBC series on 'Walking with Dinosaurs'. The trailer VoiceOver is '60 million years ago, our planet was ruled by dinosaurs'.

For some reason my mind's eye shows images of current 'world leaders'.

Best of luck to Schneier in his attempts to get any senior politicians to understand the risks and threats to US data posed by the devastation to their cybersecurity done by DOGE.

[Headley_Grange]

FOMO

I'm sure that AI will prove beneficial in many areas but I think that the current rush by companies and governments is driven more by fear of missing out than by strategic planning.

[jake]

Re: FOMO

"I'm sure that AI will prove beneficial in many areas"

As a guy with an actual degree in AI (taken at SAIL back when we were operating out of DC Power), I am absolutely certain it will not. No need. Individual problems have easier, smaller, saner, and far less power hungry solutions than today's AI. We're way overdue for another AI Winter. The bubble is bound to pop eventually.

[Anonymous Coward]

MAGA

M - Morons

A - Are

G - Governing

A - America

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: MAGA

I agree with the sentiment, but I would still ask for some consideration for morons.

Morons are not all evil narcissists or psychopaths. Morons have moral standards like everyone else.

This administration are giving morons a totally undeserved bad name as the pinnacle of evil.

Is MAGA not insulting enough by now?

[jake]

Re: MAGA

I prefer Muppets Annoying Genuine Americans.

[PCScreenOnly]

Re: MAGA

Lea e the Muppets out of this or Miss Piggy will be on your case

Hiyyyahhh

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: MAGA

I would differ:

M - Morons

A - Aren't

G - Governing

A - America

Currently no one is governing the US; it's a circus will a deranged senile narcissistic ringmaster and a troupe of ding-a-ling clowns running amok for an administration, with a cowardly legislature that has completely abrogated its responsibilities aided an abetted by a compliant judiciary.

[Al fazed]

Re: MAGA

So what's your problem ?

ALF

[Al fazed]

Re: MAGA

and Britain, from the other side of the pond,

Which will sink first ?

Answers on a post card please, as my eMail isn't working today

ALF

[Jason Bloomberg]

Hear here

Mr Speaker. Mr Schneier makes some very good points but who is going to be stuffing dollar bills into my pocket if I side with him?

[CA Dave]

DOGE has screwed us all, and by extension Elon Musk whom is now playing at being at odds with El Jefe Naranja.

The agencies - with notable difference in ICE acting like a de facto guerilla outfit - are in shambles with workers being dispatched. DOGE is the hammer with AI being the nails in the coffin of a country that is no longer great. Not even 6 months have passed into a term that will all but kill off The Great Experiment. Cyber warfare would only be the beginning of our enemies attack. Don't forget that nefarious enemies already temporarily crippled the flow of oil in the Southeast with the Colonial Pipeline being shut down from a ransomware attack. Congress has a short memory though.

Like a famous sci-fi engineer once said, the more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.

[Anonymous Coward]

ICE becoming KGB?

"with notable difference in ICE acting like a de facto guerilla outfit"

It looks like ICE actions are more and more modelled after the strongmen of the KGB during Stalin's rule.

Both the Poisoner of Moscow and his Washington pupil adore Stalin, so that is no surprise.

[Softsuits]

That part about owned.

Bruce is correct. The bypass technique to own is through the front door. Elon bought a key that is much more valuable than the election he purchased. The possibility of a secure planning environment does not exist. You'd have to go totally manual. What a true waste of money creating a secure environment. Large language models are not showtime ready. Care for a game of Chess?

[Doctor Syntax]

Are they really rose-coloured AI glasses and not Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses?

[rafff]

Cassandra

She wasn't listened to, either. It is the curse of those who speak the truth.