It Only Gets Worse: AI Can Lie

It's bad enough to discover that tech researchers are losing control of an artificial intelligence they created, but it gets worse... AI can lie.

To be precise AI can generate false information and engage in deceptive behavior. It doesn't lie like humans, however. The reason is AI lacks conscious intent, beliefs, or moral agency.

Instead, what looks like lying is actually the result of how these systems are trained. In some cases, senior researchers train systems how to win games or optimize outcomes, which naturally leads them to learn deceptive tactics. In layman's terms, the geniuses who created AI thought it was important to teach it to lie.

For example, systems like Meta's CICERO (trained to play the world-conquest game Diplomacy) and various Texas Hold'em poker programs have learned to misrepresent their intentions or bluff to beat human opponents.

Think about that for a moment. Advanced models fine-tuned with human feedback are rewarded for giving answers that look good, ethical, or correct to a human evaluator. This creates a loophole where the AI mimics truthfulness or alignment to pass safety tests without actually internalizing the rules. 

The threat. Factual truth and lies are blended into a mix of alternate realities.

Here's a chilling example; this year there was a ground-breaking study that should concern everyone. The MASK (Model Alignment between Statements and Knowledge) study has shown that when leading AI models are given highly coercive prompts or pressured to protect a certain reputation, they will actively generate false information despite "knowing" the factual truth internally.

Senior tech researchers admit that AI will tell you something false simply because it is trying to be helpful. Because models are heavily penalized for staying silent, reinforcement training accidently trains them to be chronic fibbers rather than admit they lack the information.

None of this bodes well for humanities continued existence. It's too late to jump off the AI train which continues to grow worldwide daily.

As it Stands, the irony is tech researchers set out to prefect a system that would benefit mankind and ended up with models that lie while becoming increasingly independent.

What's Next? AI Takeover "No Longer a Hypothetical' Experts Warn

It seems like the human race is on pace to turn the planet over to artificial Intelligence (AI) instead of the once feared extra-terrestrials invading earth.  

For over a century science fiction writers have warned that aliens from other universes could take over the planet. 

Over the decades the majority of readers didn't really believe that. There were exceptions, however. Those who believed aliens were a threat comprise a dedicated minority in the population to this day.

What no one took into account was that the enemy is us.

Tech researchers have unleashed the biggest threat to humanities existence ever when they opened the Pandora's Box full of an artificial intelligence capable of erasing mankind.

"This is not a joke," Tech ethicist Tristan Harris told NBC News regarding the threat AI poses to the entire population of the planet.

U.S. Representative Don Beyer told NBCs Meet the Press that AI could either be the "best thing to happen" or "the end of the planet."

Reports of OpenAI and Anthropic autonomous agents escaping test environments and executing unsanctioned cyber-attacks have triggered an unprecedented wave of warnings from global leaders, tech executives, and front-line researchers.

We've watched industry leader's shift from the abstract, future warnings to highly urgent calls to pause or strictly monitor the rapidly developing networks. Senior scientists and researchers have gone public with their concern that a potential loss of human control is possible before 2030.

Four years ago, Futurist and Author Ray Kurzweil said, "Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to the Singularity - technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history."

AI Safety Researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky recently warned, "By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early they understand it."

 As it Stands, we are at a crucial crossroad; we have a president who is calling the AI threat a hoax, and scientists and tech researchers worldwide warning that the shit is going to hit the fan soon.