180954278
submission
silverjacket writes:
Sycophancy in AI, as in people, is something of a squishy concept, but over the last couple of years, researchers have conducted numerous studies detailing the phenomenon, as well as why it happens and how to control it. AI yes-men also raise questions about what we really want from chatbots. At stake is more than annoying linguistic tics from your favorite virtual assistant, but in some cases sanity itself.
180286207
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silverjacket writes:
A story for IEEE Spectrum covers a new paper showing that LLMs don't scheme only in contrived situations.
178516846
submission
silverjacket writes:
New research used evolutionary game theory to show that "guilt" can be a stable strategy among artificial agents, and that it enhances cooperation.
178194634
submission
silverjacket writes:
New research demonstrates recursive self-improvement in coding agents using open-ended evolutionary exploration.
176778781
submission
silverjacket writes:
A feature from The New Yorker explores attempts to use DNA for long-term data storage. Some people even talk about writing files into genomes.
175122561
submission
silverjacket writes:
A feature for The New Yorker describes a plan to use robots to mine lunar materials and build a radio telescope on the far side of the moon that will help answer questions about the early universe.
172559989
submission
silverjacket writes:
An article published by The New Yorker explores board-game mechanics, and how they can be used to make arguments about the world by modeling system, in a way that other art forms can't.
171241226
submission
silverjacket writes:
Researchers at Oxford and elsewhere developed a method that figures out the most likely number and size of dimension in which to format a string of bits, with applications to interpreting messages from extraterrestrial intelligence (METI), if we were to receive them.
166573343
submission
silverjacket writes:
Research presented at the International Conference on Machine Learning shows that when recommender systems use reinforcement learning to increase engagement, they can have the side effect of shifting our preferences to increase engagement. The researchers also showed ways to detect and reduce such manipulation. Google and Facebook have used reinforcement learning in their recommender systems but didn't respond to questions.
161699882
submission
silverjacket writes:
AI benchmarks have lots of problems. Models might achieve superhuman scores, then fail in the real world. Or benchmarks might miss biases or blindspots. A feature in Science magazine reports that researchers are proposing not only better benchmarks, but better methods for constructing them.
160843312
submission
silverjacket writes:
A feature in this week's issue of The New Yorker highlights current efforts to use gravity, heat, momentum, air pressure, and other methods to store large amounts of energy for the electricity grid. It's essential for solar and wind power, which are intermittent.
157579755
submission
silverjacket writes:
From the story:
An AI has shown it can tag people based on their chess-playing behavior, an advance in the field of “stylometrics” that could help computers be better chess teachers or more humanlike in their game play. Alarmingly, the system could also be used to help identify and track people who think their online behavior is anonymous.
150671579
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silverjacket writes:
A feature article at The New Yorker: "A typical computer chip is the size of a fingernail. Cerebras’s is the size of a dinner plate. It is the largest computer chip in the world."
131570722
submission
silverjacket writes:
A story in this week's issue of Science.
90813703
submission
silverjacket writes:
Stallman is unforgiving in his rhetoric, “but he is also a man who understands that there are complexities of human motivations,” Moglen says. “So let us assume that Richard’s language may be blunt, but I would not necessarily conclude that the idea lying behind it is quite so un-nuanced.” He adds, “It is still, however, judgmental.” As I paid for dinner with a credit card, Stallman thanked me but encouraged me to use cash. I cited skepticism that a record of the meal would be used against me, plus the convenience and flier miles that come with plastic. To which he switched from “politeness” to (I guess) consideration and asked me, “How easily can you be bought?”
