Oh no, somebody is doing research in an as of yet unexplored area! That must be a humongous waste of time! Pull the plug before too many papers have been written!
Before I read Eliezer's work I thought the design an AI first, think about details & security afterward was a viable strategy. Eliezer illustrates how such an approach can go very wrong. Valuable research, if you ask me.
PS: pulling the plug misses the point. The point is that a transhuman AI can convince the GK that the GK wants to let the AI go free. The AI can offer a big bribe (money/power/reputation) and argue that eventually somebody will let an AI go free anyway, so why not stop the futile resistance, accept the bribe, and move on?
It's not a waste of time, but so far Eliezer has demonstrated nothing. Why would you do research and announce the results to the public if you're not going to also announce the steps to make it reproducible and confirmable? Maybe announcing the steps themselves renders the method unusable?
Now, let me play devil's advocate here, as I do think that Eliezer writes interesting stuff; but what is he contributing to the field of AI beyond what movies like Terminator, Space Odyssey or Eagle Eye also illustrate (AI takes over humans)?
Before I read Eliezer's work I thought the design an AI first, think about details & security afterward was a viable strategy. Eliezer illustrates how such an approach can go very wrong. Valuable research, if you ask me.
PS: pulling the plug misses the point. The point is that a transhuman AI can convince the GK that the GK wants to let the AI go free. The AI can offer a big bribe (money/power/reputation) and argue that eventually somebody will let an AI go free anyway, so why not stop the futile resistance, accept the bribe, and move on?