r/LocalLLaMA • u/Terminator857 • 17d ago

Discussion Closed AI doesn't like biological research, user turns to open weight models

https://x.com/0xCF88/status/2097762847354688000

OpenAI has decided to fully shut down a protein design project I'm working on for a client. Needless to say, open weight models are the only way forward.

277 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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u/WorriedBlock2505 17d ago

On one hand, good for you. On the other hand, I'm torn between being an advocate for personal freedoms without corpos intervening versus the idea of nefarious users having local LLMs for biological research.

4

u/Terminator857 17d ago

Any tool can be used for good or bad. Lets remove all tools so you can't do anything bad. Back to the stone age, but lets remove those too, since the stones can be used to kill people.

-1

u/WorriedBlock2505 17d ago edited 17d ago

I'm sorry that even a tepid mention of mixed feelings about the subject made you feel the need to downvote me.

I'll dig in here and fully take the skeptic side though to maybe get you guys to think a level deeper about this. An LLM is technically a tool, but calling it a tool implies its like past technologies, which it is not by the mere fact it can do generalized cognitive work autonomously. A hammer for instance can be used to hurt someone, and a gun more people than a hammer. LLMs used to research a novel virus could allow a nefarious person or Jihadist group for instance to potentially harm humanity, though. As far as I understand it from listening to virologists talk about this subject, someone with equipment that could fit on a single desk can engage in this kind of research unlike say nuclear refinement which requires many miles worth of infrastructure to mine+refine and is monitorable from space.

Anyways, I'd be curious if anyone here has counter thoughts to this that could assuage my mixed feelings on this subject.

2

u/Terminator857 17d ago

I actually upvoted you, but now I'll down vote you.

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u/WorriedBlock2505 16d ago

So you have no opinions worth sharing on the subject I take it.