Perilous Tech

Occasional thoughts on technology and social issues

  • April Podcast Appearances

    April Podcast Appearances

    In case you may have missed it on my social media, I made a few podcast appearances in the last month. I’ve been chatting with people about large language models, security, and the associated hype. The Perfect Storm I was on episode #39 the Perfect Storm Podcast talking about large language models and security issues,… Read more

  • The Hot Mess of AI Alignment

    The Hot Mess of AI Alignment

    By now, you’ve probably heard of the letter [https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/] from the Future of Life Institute, signed by experts calling for a pause on AI experiments. Odds are, you’ve seen reporting on it but didn’t read it yourself. You should go read it before forming too much of an opinion. Some, like Eliezer Yudkowsky even argue… Read more

  • Outsourcing Simulated Emotional Connections to Bots

    Outsourcing Simulated Emotional Connections to Bots

    Chatbots have become the Bitcoin of 2023, but unlike the previous cryptocurrency craze, this feels like everyone is on board. Regardless of your professional background and expertise, it seems everyone is all in on chatbots. While we can debate the technical merits, capabilities, and future of these tools ad infinitum, one thing is for sure,… Read more

  • ChatGPT and Security Parrots

    ChatGPT and Security Parrots

    Today, I wanted to write a quick post about something I continue seeing and getting asked about. Earlier this week, I was quoted on Dark Reading that I agreed with the NCSC that cybersecurity threats from ChatGPT were overhyped. So I get asked, if ChatGPT won’t supercharge attackers, then why do I keep seeing article… Read more

  • ChatGPT, Alignment, and the Paperclip Maximizer

    ChatGPT, Alignment, and the Paperclip Maximizer

    On Valentines Day this year, I commented about the current AI boom and the paperclip maximizer, but I feel this topic deserves a bit more explanation. With all of the hype and mobilization caused by the ChatGPT demo, the warning about AI alignment is missing from news coverage and conversation. We are getting a preview… Read more

  • Chatbots, Search Engines, and Truth

    Chatbots, Search Engines, and Truth

    Whether we want them or not, chatbots are coming to search engines. Google announced Bard and Microsoft implemented ChatGPT style integration with GPT-4 from OpenAI in Bing. Well, at least people are talking about Bing again, which hasn’t been mentioned in a conversation since its launch. All jokes aside, this begs the question, is search… Read more