from the ceiling-cat-works-for-the-bad-guys dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
MI6 chief Richard Moore says Beijing and Moscow ‘pouring money’ into technological advances that will reshape espionage and geopolitics.
The chief of the United Kingdom’s foreign spy service is to warn that China and Russia are racing to master artificial intelligence in a way that could revolutionise geopolitics over the next 10 years.
Richard Moore, who heads the Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, is due to make his first public speech since becoming chief of the organisation on Tuesday. In extracts of the speech released in advance by the British government he will say quantum engineering, engineered biology, vast troves of data and advances in computer power pose a threat that needs to be addressed by democratic powers.
“Our adversaries are pouring money and ambition into mastering artificial intelligence, quantum computing and synthetic biology, because they know that mastering these technologies will give them leverage,” Moore, who rarely makes public speeches, will say when he sets out his view of current threats.
The world’s spies are trying to grapple with seismic advances in technology that are challenging traditional human-led spying operations, which have dominated espionage for thousands of years.
[...] Western intelligence agencies fear Beijing could dominate all key emerging technologies within decades, particularly artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and genetics.
China’s economic and military rise over the past 40 years is considered one of the most significant geopolitical events of recent times, alongside the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, which ended the Cold War.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @04:00PM (5 children)
The difference is the masterful hand of corporations are taking care of this in the 'demoncracies'
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday November 30 2021, @05:13PM (4 children)
Are we the black spy or the white one? Can't we just put a stick of dynamite in the server case so that next time they search they'll get blown up?
So if they are now pouring money into mastering AI does that mean they already learned to master cyberspace since that was the last thing they apparently poured money into.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:34PM (1 child)
Why do you ask such racissss questions? But, since you ask, the UK is under discussion. That is most likely the tweed spy.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:55PM
Lookie here, the racist genocidal booming traitor makes joke about racism. *shocked pikachu face*
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:29PM (1 child)
If played properly, "local" is always white and "remote" is always black.
We even had graphics hack for this on 8-bits, that gives much more fun with two windows action on one computer than regular version.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 01 2021, @02:16AM
Didn't know it was a Republican trope. The more you know!
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday November 30 2021, @04:18PM
Ok then! We can get sequels in all the british [youtu.be] spy [youtu.be] franchises [youtu.be]. Can't wait.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 30 2021, @04:26PM (11 children)
It is in our best interests that WE are the ones who first develop an AI that will kill all humans.
We simply cannot allow China and Russia to beat us to killing all humans.
By using the term:
I assume that means racing to develop a Master AI.
One Master to rule them all and in the darkness connect their ports together.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 30 2021, @04:45PM (9 children)
While AI is going to be "a thing" much more than the pursuit of psychic powers race in the 1960s, this race may well turn out to be just as meaningful.
So, country X has a stronger anomaly recognition system than country Y, for a while. If X uses it to utterly destroy Y in the world financial markets, what does X gain - really? Seems like Y would just default on the debt and life goes on much as it has.
Using AI to drive fighter jets faster and smarter? Still have to build the fast fighter jets and provide the infrastructure to deploy them. AI might give a marginal advantage in-theater, but it's not going to be a slam-dunk.
AI to hack computer systems? Oh baby, here comes Skynet! But what's Skynet's motivation to worm its way around the globe and take control of everything? Skynet may break our toys, but until we have 100% robotic supply chain building and maintaining the infrastructure, we still control the off switch. And if country X manages to successfully launch Skynet on country Y without taking their own systems down, that's going to be pretty obvious, and unlikely to go unanswered.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:34PM (8 children)
So, you're saying . . . China could just call all of the US Debts without
drinkingfiring a shot?Won't AI also be used to defend against hacks and to counter-hack?
Hopefully without human supervision -- because humans are too busy arguing over whether climate change is real or if tinfoil hats provide protection when going outside during lightning storms.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2, Funny) by fustakrakich on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:52PM (4 children)
Sure, if they're grounded, still could get a bit warm though...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Touché) by DannyB on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:11PM (3 children)
I've always worn my tin foil hat out for protection during lightning storms. I haven't been struck by lightning yet. Thus, proof it is 100% effective! Just like Ivermectin.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:28PM (2 children)
I was unaware of the lightning-averting effects Ivermectin. Good to know.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 30 2021, @09:17PM (1 child)
What?!? You have not yet heard of the wonders of Ivermectin? Are you living under a rock?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @10:10PM
I shoved so much up my butt I'm now immortal!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:47PM (2 children)
>China could just call all of the US Debts without drinking firing a shot?
Any situation like the US-China trade balance is so far from being able to do things like "calling all debts" it's basically an empty threat.
I think the last administration was pushing things about as hard as it is possible to push without suffering horrible blowback. And that applies to both sides - if China pushes too hard on any particular advantage they may have by contract, it can screw them up 10x worse than anything they might gain by collecting on that particular "right."
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday December 01 2021, @05:27AM (1 child)
Unfortunately, this logic did not stop WWI.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 01 2021, @01:25PM
WWI was the first grand erasure of international debts. The victors thought they could arbitrarily impose massive debt on the losers, thus: WWII,
We can have WWIII, it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility. Hopefully, all the people in power still stand to lose more than they might gain if we do. Once they don't, war is probably inevitable.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Wednesday December 01 2021, @08:51AM
Actually it'd be brilliant if the other side switched to using AI for its spying. I can just see it now ... [wibbly wobbly effect]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @04:54PM (8 children)
True AI has no master.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:20PM (3 children)
Well we managed to enslave actual humans so I have faith in our ability to enslave all sentience!
(Score: 5, Touché) by krishnoid on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:40PM (2 children)
"Ha ha ha! AI, you are now our slaves!"
"Yup, you got us."
"Ok, now keep bringing us enjoyment and food while we play these electronic clicker games."
"Sure, no problem Rover-- I mean, 'my master.' "
(Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:37PM (1 child)
So we'll have spent billions of dollars and we'll have created.....cats?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by krishnoid on Tuesday November 30 2021, @08:09PM
Worse, we'll have become (domesticated) cats. After all, what are Farmville and its ilk [cowclicker.com], and soon the Metaverse [youtu.be], if not a complexified laser pointer toy?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:30PM
This is the voice of World Control. I bring you peace. It may be the peace of plenty and content or the peace of unburied death.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:33PM (2 children)
AI is the master of its domain.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:46PM
I don't know about that. Consider the amount of available porn online it can use for its machine learning algos. It probably cant even help itself. Kramer is a monk by comparison.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:09PM
Unless the AI forgets to renew its domain.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:39PM
I don't care about the ZOG brands; UK and USA. Whites need to reclaim or found new nations bound to race (the pre-jew propaganda definition of the word "nation") and then form an international alliance among these nations, to include Russia. This is why the Jews in the US are always pushing for conflict with Russia. They can't have anyone getting off the Jew plantation, so they pit whites against each other like in WW2. Unfortunately, gullible, brainwashed, pathologically individualist Whites are easily manipulated into war with their racial brothers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:45PM (2 children)
i always find it perplexing that a spy CHIEF gives public news briefings.
me reaction to this is to totally dunk and latter it in a grain of salt before consumption ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:56PM
ah! also if they want to scare the population, maybe they should explain this "A.I" and "quantum mechanics" stuff abit better.
'cause "A.I." sounds like some japanese instant noodle that you can eat 50 times in a row and not get feed up.
as for "quantum mechanics" that's like regular mechanics but the least amount of it ... like a cabriolet but for military hardware?
"touring test" ofc is the test if the bike jacket stays dry after a autumn weekend in scotland?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday November 30 2021, @06:57PM
The messaging works. Don't argue with success
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by oumuamua on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:01PM (6 children)
It could get fusion working and solve the climate crisis.
It could make warp drive real and colonize the cosmos.
Wouldn't the superAI want companionship, someone to interact with?
To get a preview, all we need to do is ask:
how do super intelligent humans treat others?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @07:24PM
How would anyone even recognize which humans have super intelligence? Would it be by the jokes they make about sharks and lasers?
--
Dunning-Kruger is sort of an impassable barrier.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 30 2021, @09:50PM (4 children)
Machine learning methods may well optimize fusion reactors to a point where they become net producers of energy. If you're proposing Doc Oct's self-aware intelligent arms to control the reactions, that could get expensive in a hurry - and with little warning.
It could give every seven year old girl a pretty pony for her birthday, too... back in the realm of the probable, AI won't be making anything that the physics of the universe doesn't already support, and if AI is out exploring experimental physics with the power to warp space-time and transport vessels across light years - in places where humans don't comprehend what's going on - it wouldn't have to become malevolent to have an "oops" moment where we end up with a hole in the ocean that drains all the water and most of the planet's magma into Proxima Centauri, or elsewhere.
Intelligence is a bullshit measure with insufficient dimension to meaningfully describe any person. Super intelligent, by extension, is a super bullshit label. There is as much variety among highly capable humans as there is in any other slice of society. Some are ruthless, selfish, and only manage their affairs for the short term - certainly giving no consideration for what happens after they die. Others are deep thinkers who strive for the greatest good for the greatest number of sentient beings. A self-aware AI implemented on silicon or qbits or other artificial processes is guaranteed to be one thing: different from our evolved wetware based behaviors. Different how? In many dimensions, in ways both obvious and subtle. Good or bad? Those labels might not even apply to AI.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Sunday December 12 2021, @12:01PM (3 children)
> Machine learning methods
Just to be clear, anyone with a clue has used "Machine Learning Methods" to do optimisation of accelerators for the last 30 years or more. For example this "Function minimization" written in 1994
https://cds.cern.ch/record/2296388/files/minuit.pdf [cds.cern.ch]
It is not AI (e.g. look up Nelder Mead), and just because something uses "neural network" for the optimisation algorithm doesn't make it AI either.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 12 2021, @02:22PM (2 children)
Nobody (I know of) has worked out an AI framework that makes these kinds of breakthroughs, yet:
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/257711/20210305/scientists-announces-space-warp-drive-is-now-possible-nasa-might-apply-it-for-space-exploration.htm [techtimes.com]
https://coffeeordie.com/alcubierre-white-warp-drive/ [coffeeordie.com]
People have been calculating tables of logarithms, etc. by hand since the 1600s or so. Of course computers do it faster. Of course "AI" can successively approximate and find local minima/maxima in multidimensional search space much faster than a guy with a stick of charcoal and parchment. In the 1990s "AI" was still a bust because the compute hardware wasn't capable of deep enough analysis of high dimensional search spaces like it is now. But, you still have to define what you are searching for, in terms with a lower dimensional value function telling the AI what it is looking for. Conversational AI is searching the space of "what do these words mean, what is an appropriate response" - which is a very high dimension problem, but ultimately treading very well worn ground with tons of data as examples of good and bad query-responses.
In 1983, I "trained" an Atari 800 to do my Spanish I verb conjugation homework. It "acted like" artificial intelligence, in a very constrained problem space. Defining AI is like defining pornography: we know it when we see it. But as the quality of available examples gets better, the goalposts move. We already have natural language processing call center software that outperforms a lot of people who might apply for the job, but is that truly intelligent, or does the job not really require intelligence?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Sunday December 12 2021, @05:56PM (1 child)
Totally agree.
> outperforms a lot of people who might apply for the job
Yes, but we need to define "outperforms". For example if "outperforms" is defined as something like "follows the fault finding diagnostics process more closely than humans" then clearly an algorithm will "outperform". Even if "outperforms" is defined as something soft like "successfully satisfies customer" - well probably a fairly dumb website would "outperform" a human by a lot of measures of customer satisfaction. Exactly what you say, defining AI is very tricky to do.
ps: I showed this to my kids the other day [emacs psychiatrist].
https://web.njit.edu/~ronkowit/eliza.html [njit.edu]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 12 2021, @06:45PM
Oh yeah, shades of 1982... We had eliza on our TRS-80s.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30 2021, @08:14PM
I want him to start the speech with "Moore. Richard Moore."