Of course it is useless for that purpose. The experiment was a dramatization designed to show that the AI boxing problem is hard, given that even a human stands a fair chance of breaking out, not to do any serious analysis. It achieved its goal of falsifying the usual sentiment that an isolated UFAI is not much of a risk. It was never meant to be a formal research of the issue.
I don’t think it actually accomplished that goal however, common perception notwithstanding. The standard rules used by Yudkowsky were biased in favor of the AI, and the setup itself is comical from a common-sense safety standpoint.
I still find the bit about not releasing the logs strange. I understand the rationale behind it (preventing people from saying, “But I wouldn’t have fallen for that!”), but surely Eliezer had to understand that it would make his accomplishment look a lot more suspect.
One possible explanation is that seeing the logs would have made his accomplishment look even more suspect. (E.g., perhaps he didn’t in fact persuade the gatekeeper to let him out in-game, but made some out-of-band argument like “If you agree to say that you let me out and never release the logs, I will pay you $1000” or “If you say that I persuaded you to let me out, it will make people take the problem of AI safety more seriously”. I think Eliezer has denied doing any such thing … but then he would, wouldn’t he?)
I suspect that seeing the logs would have made Eliezer seem like a horrible human being. Most people who hear of AI Box imagine a convincing argument, when to me it seems more plausible to exploit issues in people’s sense of narrative or emotion.
Yup, certainly possible. Some later attempts at box-escaping have certainly gone that way. (I don’t know whether any successful ones have. There don’t seem to have been a lot of successes since Eliezer’s.)
I think the fundamental point I’m trying to make is that Eliezer merely demonstrated that humans are too insecure to box an AI and that this problem can be solved by not giving the AI a chance to hack the humans.
Agree.. The AI boxing Is horrible idea for testing AI safety issues. Putting AI in some kind of virtual sandbox where you can watch his behavior is much better option, as long as you can make sure that AGI won’t be able to become aware that he is boxed in.
Agree.. The AI boxing Is horrible idea for testing AI safety issues. Putting AI in some kind of virtual sandbox where you can watch his behavior is much better option, as long as you can make sure that AGI won’t be able to become aware that he is boxed in.
What’s the difference between the AI’s text output channel and you observing the virtual sandbox?
Is it possible to ensure that the AI won’t realize that it is boxed in?
Is it possible to ensure that, if the AI does realize that it is boxed in, we will be able to realize that it realizes that?
As I understand it, the main point of the AI Box experiment was not whether or not humans are good gatekeepers, but that people who don’t understand why it would be enticing to let an AI out of the box haven’t fully engaged with the issue. But even how to correctly do a virtual sandbox for an AGI is a hard problem that requires serious attention.
That being said, if you have an AI, only to seal it in a box without interacting with it in any way (which seems the only realistic way to “not [give] the AI a chance to hack the humans”), that’s not much different from not building the AI in the first place.
The AI box game is useless for the purpose of analyzing a realistic superintelligence in a box.
Of course it is useless for that purpose. The experiment was a dramatization designed to show that the AI boxing problem is hard, given that even a human stands a fair chance of breaking out, not to do any serious analysis. It achieved its goal of falsifying the usual sentiment that an isolated UFAI is not much of a risk. It was never meant to be a formal research of the issue.
I don’t think it actually accomplished that goal however, common perception notwithstanding. The standard rules used by Yudkowsky were biased in favor of the AI, and the setup itself is comical from a common-sense safety standpoint.
Altering the perception was the goal.
Did it succeed? I know I find it thoroughly unconvincing.
Certainly outside of LW it has had absolutely no impact.
I, too, am thoroughly unconvinced.
I still find the bit about not releasing the logs strange. I understand the rationale behind it (preventing people from saying, “But I wouldn’t have fallen for that!”), but surely Eliezer had to understand that it would make his accomplishment look a lot more suspect.
One possible explanation is that seeing the logs would have made his accomplishment look even more suspect. (E.g., perhaps he didn’t in fact persuade the gatekeeper to let him out in-game, but made some out-of-band argument like “If you agree to say that you let me out and never release the logs, I will pay you $1000” or “If you say that I persuaded you to let me out, it will make people take the problem of AI safety more seriously”. I think Eliezer has denied doing any such thing … but then he would, wouldn’t he?)
I suspect that seeing the logs would have made Eliezer seem like a horrible human being. Most people who hear of AI Box imagine a convincing argument, when to me it seems more plausible to exploit issues in people’s sense of narrative or emotion.
Yup, certainly possible. Some later attempts at box-escaping have certainly gone that way. (I don’t know whether any successful ones have. There don’t seem to have been a lot of successes since Eliezer’s.)
I think the fundamental point I’m trying to make is that Eliezer merely demonstrated that humans are too insecure to box an AI and that this problem can be solved by not giving the AI a chance to hack the humans.
Agree.. The AI boxing Is horrible idea for testing AI safety issues. Putting AI in some kind of virtual sandbox where you can watch his behavior is much better option, as long as you can make sure that AGI won’t be able to become aware that he is boxed in.
What’s the difference between the AI’s text output channel and you observing the virtual sandbox?
Is it possible to ensure that the AI won’t realize that it is boxed in?
Is it possible to ensure that, if the AI does realize that it is boxed in, we will be able to realize that it realizes that?
As I understand it, the main point of the AI Box experiment was not whether or not humans are good gatekeepers, but that people who don’t understand why it would be enticing to let an AI out of the box haven’t fully engaged with the issue. But even how to correctly do a virtual sandbox for an AGI is a hard problem that requires serious attention.
That being said, if you have an AI, only to seal it in a box without interacting with it in any way (which seems the only realistic way to “not [give] the AI a chance to hack the humans”), that’s not much different from not building the AI in the first place.
I’ll post a list of methods soon, probably tomorrow.
So, do I understand correctly that dramatization falsified a sentiment?? X-D