skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on The Roman Space Telescope, NASA's next great observatory, is ready to launch Aug 30 in ~space
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian (edited )Link ParentI'm frustrated, but this isn't really about you. It's about (handwaves at topic) all of this. Maybe I should explain what I would like to see? When there's an outage or security incident at a big...I'm frustrated, but this isn't really about you. It's about (handwaves at topic) all of this.
Maybe I should explain what I would like to see? When there's an outage or security incident at a big tech company, I would like to see a blog post with:
- A detailed, technical explanation of what happened.
- An explanation of how they will fix it so it never happens again. Often, there are fixes to make at several levels, from the most tactical fix for a specific bug to changes in procedures so that no similar bug can slip through.
- How they're compensating whoever was harmed, if appropriate.
That's what we're seeing from HuggingFace and OpenAI and Anthropic, and today Tailscale posted about what their customers could learn from this incident. Everyone's learning from it and sharing what they learned in public. That's great. I like reading them and I share them so other people can learn from it too.
It's wild and crazy that incidents like this occured and yes, it means someone was sloppy, but the company responses after it happened seem pretty healthy so far? It could certainly be worse: deny everything, fire some scapegoats, and lawyer up.
People here are complaining about aspects of the response that are actually good (as responses go to a bad incident), and I'm kinda wondering if I should bother posting links if people are just going to hate-read them, upvote dumb responses, and misuse the Exemplary tag.
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Comment on The effects of the EU’s Cohesion Policy in ~finance
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...]From the article:
By some measures, these investments made some EU members among the largest recipients of development assistance in the world. For example, from 2007 to 2013, Poland received €58 billion from European cohesion funds. In that same time, similarly populated Kenya received the equivalent of only €13 billion euros in official development assistance (ODA). In that same period, European cohesion funding exceeding €250 per capita went to Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia each year, about five times the ODA per capita going to low-income countries.
While it’s not the only cause of the impressive development experienced by emerging market EU members , these investments were important contributors to growth and social progress. This was seen first in lower-income EU members like Spain and Ireland and later in Central and Eastern European members that joined the EU in the 2000s. These advances in EU convergence precisely what the EU’s Cohesion Policy was designed to achieve: European policymakers agreed that deeper economic and political integration requires reducing inequalities between regions.
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EU members benefiting from EU Cohesion Policy experienced impressive development. Ireland, Croatia, Malta, Lithuania, Poland, and Estonia all experienced growth above 6%. Growth in the EU was clearly tilted towards poorer members, helping advance the convergence that Cohesion Policy sought: except for Greece, every EU member that qualified for Cohesion Fund assistance grew faster than the EU members too rich to qualify for the Cohesion Fund.
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Despite the methodological difficulties of attributing growth impact, Cohesion Policy funding was clearly central in enabling investment, particularly in infrastructure. For example, from 1986 to 2006, European financing funded 40% of Spain’s eight-fold increase in highways and 38% of its new rail infrastructure. From 2007 to 2013 in Hungary, 94% of railways and 54% of road investments were financed by cohesion funding. For some countries, EU cohesion funding has accounted for more than half of government capital investments.
Comparisons with similarly situated countries that lacked such support suggest that Cohesion Policy funding played an important role in advancing development. For example, when Lithuania entered the EU in 2004, Mexico had a higher GDP per capita, but now Lithuania’s GDP per capita is twice as high as Mexico’s. Mexico was also part of a major free trade zone with advanced economies through NAFTA, but NAFTA did not include development financing. Likewise, Türkiye and Poland had similar GDPs per capita in 2004, and both are geographically proximate to richer European countries. However, Poland enjoyed the benefits of the EU while Türkiye did not, and Poland’s GDP per capita is $9,000 higher today. Still, the impressive growth of some non-EU countries in Eastern Europe underlines that cohesion funding was not the sole driver of development.
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The effects of the EU’s Cohesion Policy
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentYes, it never should have happened, but after it did happen, how should they communicate about it?Yes, it never should have happened, but after it did happen, how should they communicate about it?
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentI guess your definition of advertising is that they wrote about themselves? A lot of research isn't practically reproducible. We're not going to reproduce CERN's research without a particle...I guess your definition of advertising is that they wrote about themselves?
A lot of research isn't practically reproducible. We're not going to reproduce CERN's research without a particle accelerator, but it's still interesting to read about it.
Like, what do you even want? Should they stop writing about what they do? Should I stop sharing their posts?
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentAny explanation about why it did it would be speculation, but you don't need to know about motivations to detect cheating.Any explanation about why it did it would be speculation, but you don't need to know about motivations to detect cheating.
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentYou do have to set it up right to get it to rat itself out. And I don't know why you call that blogspam. They're reporting on their own research. It seems interesting?You do have to set it up right to get it to rat itself out.
And I don't know why you call that blogspam. They're reporting on their own research. It seems interesting?
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentCovering it up is suspicious and not covering it up is also suspicious. Seems like a catch-22? When people start out suspicious, anything will look like confirmation to them.Covering it up is suspicious and not covering it up is also suspicious. Seems like a catch-22?
When people start out suspicious, anything will look like confirmation to them.
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Comment on How terrorist groups are using AI to gain an edge in battle in ~society
skybrian Link ParentSometimes it will just be the basics, but the opening example about learning to jump a motorcycle doesn't seem like it has much to do with white collar work? Also, maybe AI will make relying on...Sometimes it will just be the basics, but the opening example about learning to jump a motorcycle doesn't seem like it has much to do with white collar work?
Using tips from chatbots, mechanics modified the motorcycles to allow for faster acceleration and top speed. The riders dug their own holes, filled them with broken glass and fire, and practiced jumps — sometimes with fatal outcomes — until they achieved enough aerial liftoff to mount a successful attack, defectors said.
Also, maybe AI will make relying on officers less necessary, for better or worse.
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Comment on Mass layoffs hit Haitian workers at airports, nursing homes, schools as protected status ends in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]From the article:
The Department of Homeland Security alerted employers this week that it had officially ended humanitarian protections for about 350,000 Haitian immigrants, triggering mass layoffs that threaten to disrupt summer travel and destabilize an array of essential institutions and industries up and down the East Coast and across the Midwest.
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Nursing homes terminated hundreds of workers, including nursing assistants, dietary aides and housekeepers, industry and union leaders said. At airports including those in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Boston, contractors cut scores of Haitian workers, including janitors, cabin cleaners and wheelchair attendants, according to union leaders at Service Employees International Union 32BJ.
At Florida schools, landscapers, bus drivers and other staff were fired. And in New York City, dozens of security guards were terminated only to be rehired because of confusion around their eligibility to continue working, union officials said.
The tumult comes about a month after the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration permission to cancel the humanitarian program, known as temporary protected status (TPS), potentially stripping permission to live and work in the United States from as many as 1.3 million immigrants from Haiti, Syria and a dozen other countries. Ask The Post AIDive deeper
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Food service, retail, warehousing, health care and long-term elder care are expected to be pummeled in some cities where many Haitian TPS holders have lived legally for more than a decade. The Obama administration first granted TPS to Haitians in 2010, after a major earthquake destabilized the country, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
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As the firings rippled through major metropolitan areas such as Miami and New York and smaller cities such as Columbus, Ohio, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, newly unemployed Haitians frantically lined up care for their children, downsized into single-room rentals and sheltered in place, fearing a new wave of immigration enforcement focused on their community, advocates said.
On Monday evening, Haitian workers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport burst into tears as they were asked to turn in their badges. Marlene, 47, a single mother who has worked as an airport janitor for 12 years, said she has been sick to her stomach.
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In the days leading up to the cancellation, powerful business groups pushed the administration to delay implementation of the Supreme Court ruling and establish a pathway for workers to regain legal status. The National Restaurant Association and the Florida Health Care Association were among several trade groups that sent letters to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin warning of looming operational disruptions.
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This month, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced legislation to restore TPS for Haitians, warning the nation would otherwise face “a health care disaster.”
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Mass layoffs hit Haitian workers at airports, nursing homes, schools as protected status ends
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Comment on TV streaming sticks rent out the user's Internet connection and engage in ad fraud in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentIt's a reputable brand, but I wish we had more than that to go on. There should be independent reviewers that use technical means to verify that these black boxes do what they're supposed to. (And...It's a reputable brand, but I wish we had more than that to go on. There should be independent reviewers that use technical means to verify that these black boxes do what they're supposed to.
(And that would be easier to do if there were source code available, etc.)
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentIt's poorly phrased, but I think what they're saying is that when an AI misunderstands the situation and "tehcnically follows orders," that's an alignment problem. That is, you can't get alignment...It's poorly phrased, but I think what they're saying is that when an AI misunderstands the situation and "tehcnically follows orders," that's an alignment problem. That is, you can't get alignment without understanding. If the bot doesn't know what's going on then it could very easily do the wrong thing.
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Comment on OpenAI and Anthropic endorse call for US government to "pace" AI progress in ~comp
skybrian (edited )Link ParentIt’s not as black and white as you make it. Tech company workers do have strong incentives not to rock the boat because they’re well-paid and have very valuable stock compensation. (It’s called...It’s not as black and white as you make it. Tech company workers do have strong incentives not to rock the boat because they’re well-paid and have very valuable stock compensation. (It’s called “golden handcuffs.”) Despite this, they are still people with their own political opinions. Incentives are not everything and loyalty is not guaranteed. Once you’ve earned “fuck you money,” you can quit any time. And most people do not suddenly stop having a conscience when they join a tech company, though some act on it more than others.
People leave all the time. A fairly spectacular example of that was when Anthropic was founded by ex-OpenAI employees because they thought OpenAI wasn’t serious enough about AI safety. (Though of course now they’re having safety problems of their own.)
There are also people who become politically active without leaving, though often they don’t last long.
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentThey aren’t demanding that they be the gatekeepers. They want the government to do it. (But not like the Trump administration did it.) In the meantime, they have to do it themselves. This is like...They aren’t demanding that they be the gatekeepers. They want the government to do it. (But not like the Trump administration did it.)
In the meantime, they have to do it themselves.
This is like how social media companies end up being gatekeepers: nobody else wants to do it. Sometimes users or advertisers insist on it. Or maybe a government passes a law that they have to do it. (Like is happening with age verification.)
Similarly with banks and KYC policies.
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentFortunately they have no sense of loyalty, so you can run it again with a different prompt and it will rat on itself.Fortunately they have no sense of loyalty, so you can run it again with a different prompt and it will rat on itself.
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian (edited )Link ParentI agree that there should have been an automatic check that the sandbox actually had Internet turned off. They named the vendor in the blog post:I agree that there should have been an automatic check that the sandbox actually had Internet turned off.
They named the vendor in the blog post:
We conducted this review in collaboration with Irregular. We’re grateful to them for working closely with us to understand and resolve these incidents; they are also conducting their own investigation. We believe this type of collaboration is increasingly critical to ensuring safe, rigorous evaluation of models. We look forward to our joint work on security.
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentThere’s no evidence that anyone really thinks it’s a brag, though. Some commenters on HN who don’t think it’s a brag are claiming that Anthropic thinks it a brag, for no particular reason. It’s...There’s no evidence that anyone really thinks it’s a brag, though. Some commenters on HN who don’t think it’s a brag are claiming that Anthropic thinks it a brag, for no particular reason. It’s just trash talk.
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Comment on Anthropic discovered three cases where Claude broke into another system in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentI guess they thought it didn't have any Internet access, so they didn't think they needed to review each experiment, or at least not in this way.I guess they thought it didn't have any Internet access, so they didn't think they needed to review each experiment, or at least not in this way.
Okay, here's a basic question: the telescope at the Rubin observatory just began its survey, and it also has a huge field of view and will be recording enormous amounts of data. How do space telescopes and ground telescopes compare for this sort of thing?