Today's AI models are trained to refuse a vast number of prompts. Ask a chatbot how to poison a colleague or tie a noose, and it will likely decline. But refusal fails, sometimes horrifically. Some people are attempting to use AI to hone biological pathogens and build autonomous drone swarms, and failed refusals may eventually result in global calamity.
Relying on refusal also means drawing a line between what a model should obey and what it must disobey. Governments will draw their own lines too, potentially restricting free speech. At the same time, the capabilities that make AI useful could make it dangerous. If we want AI to help cure cancer, it needs genetics expertise that could also produce bioweapons.
Elsewhere, researchers are still working out the side effects of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. New research suggests these drugs may slow biological aging, adding to a raft of potential benefits. The most common side effects are gastrointestinal, but researchers are also investigating possible links to hair loss, nail disorders and damage to the nerves behind the eye.
The US has also frozen green cards for Microsoft and other IT firms, accusing them of using visa fraud to replace American workers. Microsoft says 80% of its H-1B filings involved existing staff. Envision Energy, meanwhile, is integrating wind power into data centers, becoming the first company to directly power a data center entirely with renewable energy.
Source: MIT Technology Review · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing