Reading OpenAI’s account last week of how some of its models broke their containment and hacked into the computer systems of Hugging Face, another AI company, was the first time I got genuine chills about what large language models are now able to do. But this is a case of human hubris, not rogue AI.
I am not an alarmist. In fact, I have been pushing back against AI scare stories for years. Even so, this incident crossed a line. I think it’s the clearest illustration yet of how the people building and testing this technology do not fully understand what they’re doing.
Here’s why OpenAI could—and should—have seen this coming.
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The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 There’s a growing global AI stock sell-off underway 📉
Chip and memory stocks are bearing the brunt so far. (FT $)
+ It was partly sparked by a report that a Chinese company has started making a key piece of chip equipment for the first time. (The Information $)
+ Like their US rivals, Chinese AI firms are struggling to find a path to profitability. (NOW $)
+ What even is the AI bubble? (MIT Technology Review)
2 Some people’s chats with Claude were open to anyone online
OpenAI had a near-identical issue with ChatGPT last year. (BBC)
+ Is a secure AI assistant even possible? (MIT Technology Review)
3 France just witnessed its first ever “fire cloud”
It’s a scary sign of the intensity of the blazes burning there. (Wired $)
4 Meta is screwing up its smart glasses rollout
Privacy issues keep cropping up, and its response is invariably too little, and too late. (The Verge $)
+ They even have a nickname: “pervert glasses.” (Vox $)
5 Efforts are underway to measure Spotify’s AI slop problem
People are desperate for it to start labelling AI-generated music. (404 Media)
+ We’re in a weird era regarding AI’s role in literature. (The Atlantic $)
6 People are renting out their faces to AI in China
Often for microdramas, which are big business and increasingly rely on AI. (Rest of World)
+ How Chinese short dramas became AI content machines. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Microsoft is having a torrid year
Rivals building better AI tools are threatening its business on multiple fronts. (Business Insider $)
8 How bots took over the internet
They now outnumber humans, in terms of overall web traffic. (New Yorker $)