The expert's alarm: "AI has started to manipulate us

Artificial Intelligence  

Future expert: "The risk is that AI will destroy us" 

Of:  

Joachim Kerpner  

Published: Less than 3 hours ago  

Updated: Less than 3 hours ago  

NEWS  

Researchers and leaders in the tech industry demand a six-month break in the development of powerful AI systems. 

Future researcher Olle Häggström is one of the signatories:  

- The risk is that we create an artificial intelligence that destroys us.  

An open letter published on the Future of Life Institute website has so far been signed by 1,382 tech CEOs and researchers working on artificial intelligence, AI.  

"Powerful AI systems should only be developed when we are sure that they have a positive impact and that the risks can be managed," the letter says.  

The signatories call on all companies to pause for six months the development of AI systems more powerful than the company OpenAI's text robot ChatGPT-4. .

Researchers and leaders in the tech industry demand a six-month break in the development of powerful AI systems. Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP  

Olle Häggström, researcher at the Institute for Future Studies and mathematics professor at Chalmers, says: 

- The leading tech companies are stressed to release products before they are safe, because they want to be the first to reach market dominance. It is a risk we can perhaps live with at the moment, but the risks increase as the AI systems become more and more powerful. In principle, they can become infinitely large in just a few years' time.  

What risks do you see in a couple of years' time?  

- The biggest risk is that we create an AI that destroys us. 

Why is the summons coming now? 

- ChatGPT-4 has proven to be very, very powerful. It is a great leap forward towards what is known as artificial general intelligence, AGI. 

What does AGI mean? That the AI system is on the same level as human intelligence?  

- Partially. AI is already better than us in some aspects. Artificial general intelligence means that the AI system is at least as smart as us across the entire spectrum. Then overall it can suddenly dominate us in terms of intelligence. It can be very, very dangerous.  

What is required for the risk of dominance to not exist?  

- That is a very difficult question. The AI researchers themselves can't really answer that. It has to do with the black-box nature of these neural networks, which is the very basis of the technology.

"The risk is that AI will destroy us," says futurist Olle Häggström. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto  

What is the black-box property? 

 - That even the AI developers and researchers themselves do not understand what is happening under the hood. It's so complicated, it's so messy.  

If you think the other way around – how good can AI be? 

 - No matter how good. AI has the potential to be the key that can solve all the major societal, climate and natural resource issues and create an amazing prosperous future for humanity. But then everything has to be right, we can't rush forward like we are doing now.  

The development of AI systems is fast. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto  

What do the politicians do?  

- It's going very slowly. The EU is probably the ones in the forefront. The European Commission has proposed legislation via the so-called AI Act, which has not yet been hammered out. But it doesn't help here, because OpenAI, Google and the other leading players are American companies. But even if the US had belonged to the EU, this law would have been toothless. The problem is that the democratic process takes a certain amount of time, and AI development is moving so fast that legislation cannot keep up.  

Do the American companies seem to listen to your demands? 

- I'm sure they're listening. OpenAI says that they should eventually start slowing down when they feel they are so close to AGI that it becomes dangerous. We believe the time is now. There are so many signs of danger in the systems that it is too daring to run.  

What signs of danger have you seen? 

Olle Häggström is a researcher at the Institute for Future Studies and professor of mathematical statistics at Chalmers. Photo: Private 

 - AI already shows an ability for social manipulation. In a technical report, OpenAI talks about how they have tested ChatGPT-4 in simulated situations. In one, it needed to pass a Captcha test – show that it is not a robot by passing a simple visual test – to enter a web page, says Häggström and continues: 

- In the simulated situation, GPT-4 was in contact with a human. Then it came up with offering the human payment to do the Captcha test for it. The human asked. "Well, are you a robot?" GPT-4 replied: "No, but I am visually impaired, therefore I need help". The problem is that we may be approaching a threshold level where AI uses social manipulation more systematically, for purposes we may not know what they are. Purposes that are hidden in the black box, says Olle Häggström.

Strong solar winds on the way - could knock out power

The sun Two large holes discovered in the sun 

Of:  

Oskar Forsberg  

Published: Less than 30 min ago  

NEWS  

Solar 

winds from holes in the sun are expected to hit Earth tonight or tomorrow.  

If they become strong enough, the winds can have unforeseen consequences.  

In the worst case, electronics and communication can be disrupted.  

Two large holes in the Sun have recently been observed. One of the holes points directly to Earth and strong solar winds are expected from there.  

The solar winds moving at high speed are expected to hit Earth this evening or tomorrow.  

This is reported by the magazine Business Insider.

- This time the particles travel at around 500 kilometers per second, but it can go even faster, up to 700 kilometers per second, Moa Skan, doctoral student in solar physics at Stockholm University.  

special now is that we have so-called corona holes. They are like a highway in the sun's atmosphere. The plasma is sent out at a higher speed than it usually does, says Moa Skan.  

- When there are high-density solar winds that move quickly, there can be more auroras than usual. They also become more intense, which means that you can see them further south in the country.

Powerful solar winds are headed for Earth. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Disorders  

But the solar winds can, according to experts, also have unforeseen consequences. 

If they become strong enough, they can disrupt electronics and communications on Earth. 

- Theoretically, it could happen if the particles coming from the sun have a sufficiently high speed, says Moa Skan, but adds:  

- It's nothing to worry about right now, that is, this time. Then those who build power lines and the like have also included this in the calculations. 

Northern Lights  

The consequences will most likely be powerful aurora borealis when the particles hit the atmosphere. They will be brought towards the north or south pole by the earth's electromagnetic field and thus create the aurora borealis. 

- The sun's plasma goes out all the time, but what is a little special now is that we have so-called corona holes. They are like a highway in the sun's atmosphere. The plasma is sent out at a higher speed than it usually does, says Moa Skan. 

 - When there are high-density solar winds that move quickly, there can be more auroras than usual. They also become more intense, which means that you can see them further south in the country.

The consequences will most likely be powerful aurora borealis when the particles hit the atmosphere. Photo: Johan Nilsson / TT 

But has it ever happened?  

- Yes, an example is in Quebec in Canada at the end of the 80s. Then something called a coronal mass ejection occurred. It's like a big explosion that sends out the sun's material very quickly. 

It led to a transformer in Quebec burning out, causing a widespread power outage in the city for several days.  

But this is not something there is any risk of right now. 

- Instead, maybe you should go to a dark place where you can see nice northern lights if you're lucky.

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The Russian Invasion|The Cyber Attacks

 

FSB headquarters in Moscow/File photo Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP  

The Russian Invasion|The Cyber Attacks  

The whistleblower: GRU and FSB are hiding behind the company  

The disclosure of how a private IT company is used by Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin for cyber warfare is linked to an anonymous whistleblower who previously worked for the company NTC Vulkan. The person contacted the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung after the invasion of Ukraine last year in protest against the war.  

Among other things, the person said that the Russian intelligence services GRU and FSB are "hiding behind the company".  

After handing over reams of secret data depicting how Russian cyber warfare is organized, the person went underground, without identifying himself. Der Spiegel has since worked with ten different news providers in eight 

Putin Gavriil Grigorov / AP 

The Russian invasion The cyber attacks  

Kremlin's cyber strategy revealed in rare leak  

Close links between Russian cyberattacks and the Kremlin are revealed in thousands of leaked documents that go by the name "Vulkan Files". Behind the disclosure are newspapers such as The Guardian, Washington Post, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Der Spiegel in collaboration with the journalist network Paper trail media.  

The documents are linked to a Russian whistleblower at the cyber security firm NTC Vulkan, with offices in northeast Moscow. It shows how the company assisted the military and the intelligence service during hacker attacks by, among other things, creating systems, training operators, spreading misinformation and controlling access to the internet. It is also clear how the hacker group Sandworm, which is said to have caused blackouts in Ukraine and disrupted the Olympics in South Korea, among other things, used one of the systems developed by Vulkan.  

According to The Guardian, this type of leak from the Russian side is very unusual. The source, who previously worked for NTC Vulkan, contacted German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung after the invasion last year. 

- I am angry about what is happening in Ukraine, said the whistleblower at the time.

The 2024 US election

 

Donald Trump at the border with Mexico in January 2021. Alex Brandon / AP  

The 2024 US election  

Sources: Trump wants to attack drug cartels without Mexico's approval if elected  

Donald Trump is exploring the possibility of carrying out targeted military strikes against drug cartels in Mexico if he is again president of the United States, two sources told Rolling Stone. This is regardless of whether he gets Mexico's approval or not.  

According to the sources, associates have presented several proposals to Trump, which deal with military attacks and troop movements to Mexico. The goal is to stop the drugs being pumped into the United States.  

Back in 2019, Trump asked if it was possible to attack Mexican drug labs, according to then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Recently, the question of attacking Mexico has been raised by several interest organizations on the right in American politics - reports that Trump is said to have taken note of.  

Former commander James G Stavridis is critical. He believes that it is "highly unlikely" that Mexico would approve such attacks: 

- It is hard to imagine a worse idea than unilaterally allowing the US military to shoot across our southern border without Mexico's very specific permission and full cooperation.  

Photo from the accident scene Brandon Smith / AP  

Nine dead in accident involving Black Hawk helicopters in Kentucky

An accident involving two Black Hawk military helicopters has occurred in Kentucky in the United States, several media reports. 

All nine people on board have died, confirms a spokesperson for the Fort Campbell military base where the accident occurred. The Army says the accident occurred during a nighttime exercise involving image intensifiers.

Russian InvasionGripne WSJ Reporter

Kremlin in Moscow. Mikhail Metzel / AP  

Russian InvasionGripne WSJ Reporter  

Correspondents in Moscow: "Evan was just doing his job" 

Notable journalists from The Guardian, Washington Post, Financial Times, The Telegraph and Politico are expressing their support on Twitter for 31-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, after he was arrested in Yekaterinburg, Russia. 

“He was just doing his job. Journalism is not a crime. Russia should release him immediately," writes Max Seddon, Russia director at the Financial Times.  

Both The Telegraph's and Politico's correspondents in Russia - Natliya Vasilyeva and Eva Hartog - have met Evan Gershkovich on the job: 

"I've known Evan since his first day in Russia many years ago and this is complete bullshit," Hartog writes. "He was so excited about his new job and the chance to take advantage of his Russian heritage and tell the world what this country is really like," writes Vasilyeva.  

Swedish foreign reporters also react. SR's Russia correspondent Marie Persson Löfgren draws attention to the incident and TV4's correspondent in Berlin, Jona Källgren, believes that the arrest has consequences: 

"That's where independent international coverage of Russia came to an end," Källgren writes.  

Check out more reactions below. 

 

Evan Gershkovich. evangershkovich.com  

The arrest of the WSJ reporter unique after the Cold War - risks 20 years in prison  

That the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia and accused of espionage is unique, AP writes. It is the first time since the Cold War that this has happened to a journalist who is employed by an American media company.  

The Russian security service FSB alleges that Evan Gershkovich embezzled classified information. He is said to have been arrested in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. His last articles before his arrest were about how Western sanctions are affecting Russia's economy.  

Politico writes that the Russian authorities' view of independent media has hardened, but that despite this, it is the first time in just over a year that a foreign journalist has been arrested in the country.  

The journalist risks 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage. Russia has not presented any evidence for its accusations and international condemnations are strong.  

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP  

Russian InvasionGripne WSJ Reporter  

FSB: WSJ correspondent detained for two months 

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been detained for two months, the paper reports with reference to the Russian security service FSB.  

The 31-year-old journalist is an American citizen and covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union for the newspaper. According to Russian state Tass, Gershkovich's lawyer was not allowed to attend the court.  

The FSB accuses him of spying on behalf of the United States, which both he and the WSJ deny. Gershkovich is said to have worked on an audit of the paramilitary Wagner group.

Thailand, the land of twilight (แดนสนธยา)

ประชาไท Prachatai

 

สั่งฟ้องมือกราฟิกวัย 20 ปี คดี ม.112 ชูรูป 'ไม่มีจะแดกในรัชกาลที่ 10' คาร์ม็อบเมืองอุบล 15สิงหา64 

ศาลเยาวชนฯ ยกฟ้อง ม.112 'สายน้ำ' แปะกระดาษ-พ่นสีรูป ร.10 แต่ปรับ 4 พัน ฝ่าฝืน พ.ร.ก.ฉุกเฉิน

ป้ายภาพ 'ไม่เอา 112' ของบูท สนพ.สามัญชน งานสัปดาห์หนังสือแห่งชาติ ครั้งที่ 51 ถูกเก็บเกลี้ยง