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I think we're more likely to have a hundred companies and governments blowing billions/trillions on hyper powered models while spending pennies on aligning their shit to pay themselves a few extra bonuses and run a few more stock buybacks. I'd sooner trust the Yuddites to eventually lead us into the promised land in 10,000 AD than trust Zucc with creating silicon Frankenstein.
Alignment is generally in the interest of the corporation. I really think it depends on how hard you expect the alignment problem to solve, and when sentience will come about.
I think we get AGI, even well into ASI before we get real sentience and AI models stop being tools. Once we have boosted our own intelligence and understanding through these new AI tools, we align the next generation of AI. And so on and so forth.
What Altman and his crew are concerned with is one actor taking charge of AI at the beginning (well, one that isn't them) or us building up so much theoretical framework that when we start building things they're already extremely powerful. We need to work the technology in stages, like we do every other.
Alignment isn't in the interests of quarterly profits in the same way increased raw capacity is. If we get some kooky agentic nonsense creeping up I don't put much faith in google, facebook et all having invested in the proper training and the proper safeguards to stop things from spiraling out of control, and I doubt you need something we would recognize as full blown sentience for that to become an issue. All it takes is one slipup in the daisy chain of alignment and Bad Things happen, especially if we get a fuckup once these things are for all intents and purposes beyond human comprehension.
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