Another way is recruiting helpers. The problem is that the constraint of making the AI only do human-possible things doesn’t really work to prevent postulating “magic” in this area.
This is not so magical on a small scale (given a bunch of unlikely premises). One can imagine an AI to copy Yudkowsky’s success, by writing a much better, different “LessLessWrong”, and ask people for money. Writing a bunch of blog posts would also require little of the sort of skills at which humans are naturally good at. All you need is some seemingly genuine insights, and a cause. And an AI could probably come up with a very convincing (to a certain group of people), albeit exotic, existential risk scenario, and mitigation strategies.
I strongly doubt that this would suffice in order to take over the world. For example, at some point it would have to show up in person somewhere. And people could notice a front man, since they did not write those posts.
But in general, fake existential risk mitigation seems to be a promising strategy if you want to take over the world. Because many require large scale, global interventions, using genuine technology. While the cause itself attracts people featuring the right mix of intelligence, fanaticism, and a perception of moral superiority, in order to commit atrocities, if necessary.
If the AI wants to recruit people by role-playing a person, it can pretend to be a busy person who doesn’t have time for social life. Or something more creative, like a mad genius suffering from extreme social phobia, a paranoid former secret service agent, or a successful businessman who believes that connecting their online persona with their identity would harm their business. There is no need to appear personally anywhere. It’s not like people suspect a random blogger to be an AI in disguise.
Even if you want to create a cult, it’s not necessary to meet people personally. Most Falun Gong members have never seen their leader, and probably don’t even know if he’s still alive. He could easily be an AI with a weird utility function. Maybe some people would refuse to join a movement with an unknown leader. So what? Someone else would join. And when you already have the “inner circle” of humans, other members will be happy to meet the inner circle members in person. Catholics interact with their priests more often than they do with the Pope. And if the Pope would secretly take commands from an AI hiding in the depths of Vatican, most Catholics wouldn’t know.
You could pretend to be a secret society trying to rule the world. If you tell humans “we will help you become a president, but in reality you will be our puppet, and you will not even know our identity”, many people would be okay with that, if you demonstrate them that you have some power. You could start the trust spiral e.g. by writing a successful thesis for them, giving them a good advice, or just sending them money you stole from somewhere; just to prove that if they do what you want from them, you can deliver real-world benefits in return.
If you want to have a blogger persona, you could start by contacting an already good blogger, and make a deal with them that they will start a new blog and publish your articles under their name (because you want to remain anonymous, and in exchange offer them all the fame). You could choose a smart person who already agrees with most of your ideas, so it would seem credible.
Do what Satoshi Nakamoto did and intentionally hide behind internet anonymity. Do this right and it will make you seem like an ultra-cool uber-hacker cyberpunk.
This is not so magical on a small scale (given a bunch of unlikely premises). One can imagine an AI to copy Yudkowsky’s success, by writing a much better, different “LessLessWrong”, and ask people for money. Writing a bunch of blog posts would also require little of the sort of skills at which humans are naturally good at. All you need is some seemingly genuine insights, and a cause. And an AI could probably come up with a very convincing (to a certain group of people), albeit exotic, existential risk scenario, and mitigation strategies.
I strongly doubt that this would suffice in order to take over the world. For example, at some point it would have to show up in person somewhere. And people could notice a front man, since they did not write those posts.
But in general, fake existential risk mitigation seems to be a promising strategy if you want to take over the world. Because many require large scale, global interventions, using genuine technology. While the cause itself attracts people featuring the right mix of intelligence, fanaticism, and a perception of moral superiority, in order to commit atrocities, if necessary.
If the AI wants to recruit people by role-playing a person, it can pretend to be a busy person who doesn’t have time for social life. Or something more creative, like a mad genius suffering from extreme social phobia, a paranoid former secret service agent, or a successful businessman who believes that connecting their online persona with their identity would harm their business. There is no need to appear personally anywhere. It’s not like people suspect a random blogger to be an AI in disguise.
Even if you want to create a cult, it’s not necessary to meet people personally. Most Falun Gong members have never seen their leader, and probably don’t even know if he’s still alive. He could easily be an AI with a weird utility function. Maybe some people would refuse to join a movement with an unknown leader. So what? Someone else would join. And when you already have the “inner circle” of humans, other members will be happy to meet the inner circle members in person. Catholics interact with their priests more often than they do with the Pope. And if the Pope would secretly take commands from an AI hiding in the depths of Vatican, most Catholics wouldn’t know.
You could pretend to be a secret society trying to rule the world. If you tell humans “we will help you become a president, but in reality you will be our puppet, and you will not even know our identity”, many people would be okay with that, if you demonstrate them that you have some power. You could start the trust spiral e.g. by writing a successful thesis for them, giving them a good advice, or just sending them money you stole from somewhere; just to prove that if they do what you want from them, you can deliver real-world benefits in return.
If you want to have a blogger persona, you could start by contacting an already good blogger, and make a deal with them that they will start a new blog and publish your articles under their name (because you want to remain anonymous, and in exchange offer them all the fame). You could choose a smart person who already agrees with most of your ideas, so it would seem credible.
Do what Satoshi Nakamoto did and intentionally hide behind internet anonymity. Do this right and it will make you seem like an ultra-cool uber-hacker cyberpunk.