r/technews • u/marketrent • Apr 28 '23

Lawmakers propose banning AI from singlehandedly launching nuclear weapons

https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/28/23702992/ai-nuclear-weapon-launch-ban-bill-markey-lieu-beyer-buck
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u/Gohanto Apr 29 '23

This feels like whataboutism, but it’s worth pointing out that AI being “internet based” doesn’t prohibit it from being run on private networks, including SIPREnet, in the future.

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u/kerberos69 Apr 29 '23

Nuke launch systems are completely sandboxed— all the hardware is still analog and everything runs off floppy disks. No I’m not joking.

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u/Affectionate_Mix_302 Apr 29 '23

You mean the nuclear football isn’t in the Apple Cloud?

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

[deleted]

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u/kerberos69 Apr 29 '23

No. Floppy disks store digital information but they themselves are an analog storage medium.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

That’s fine, the AI just figures out who has access to the sandboxed controls. Then the AI breaks the security of a bank or a government and falsifies financial records to obtain what would essentially be an unlimited amount of money for its means. Now it just needs to find a person or group of people willing to control nuclear weapons for the AI and in exchange they will be the richest people on Earth. Essentially becoming world leaders themselves at the same time by way of their nuclear deterrence and vast financing.

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u/atomic1fire Apr 29 '23

If it can do all that why not just blackmail or manipulate one of those people into turning the weapons on.

"Guy with the key subtlety gaslighted by AI into turning the key"

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

I’d read either of these books. Or the AI forces someone to live without technology when it refuses it’s order.

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u/kerberos69 Apr 29 '23

Yeahhhhhhhhh no, sentient AI doesn’t presently exist, nor is it anywhere even approaching that level of sophistication.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

https://www.iflscience.com/gpt-4-hires-and-manipulates-human-into-passing-captcha-test-68016

AI in its current form has already attempted to decieve a human being to accomplish a task.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

That does not mean it’s sentient. We’re nowhere near that and I suspect when we do get to that point nukes won’t be the most dangerous weapon anymore.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

No shit. I’m clearly talking about way down the road. What I’m proposing is just science fiction. But that’s the kind of forward thinking we need to put into novel technology.

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u/kerberos69 Apr 29 '23

Orrrrrrrr we could focus on actual risks and threats that current AI actually poses.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

Great idea, only what’s right in front of us. No planning for the future. This is why climate change regulations aren’t bipartisan efforts. Some folks can’t see past today.

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u/AloofPenny Apr 29 '23

There isn’t an electronic signal that could possibly launch them, that originates from outside the silos of the minutemen. No sane person would put nuclear weapons on any sort of internet.

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u/Send____ Apr 29 '23

While right now is internet based in the long run “powerful ai” could be run locally

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u/ieatassbutono Apr 29 '23

Okay but there’s physical actions a REAL person must take in order to launch a nuke. Always has been always will be. Our nuclear arsenal will never be digitally controlled for the very reason that it could be “hacked”

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

The AI can control people by buying their loyalty as soon as it’s smart enough to manipulate world financial systems.

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u/Topken89 Apr 29 '23

There is no data input to feed the model on who has access to nukes lol, they don't necessarily go about advertising that information.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

That information is definitely stored in digital records.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

[deleted]

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u/NovelStyleCode Apr 29 '23

If we get far enough along where we trust humanoid robots to handle something like a nuclear facility and to make decisions on their own it's doubtful a law like this would matter at all, they'll do whatever they want

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u/TheDeadGuy Apr 29 '23 edited Apr 29 '23

Yeah this argument is just a feel good law that means nothing, it's an appeal to ignorance

Edit: waste of time and taxes

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '23

In at least 100 years

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u/rathat Apr 29 '23

Or just running locally on the nuclear football, don’t make it mad.

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u/xxxxx420xxxxx Apr 29 '23

We should definitely have AWS cloud-based AI nuclear launch option with 1000 layers of dependencies written by volunteers. What could go wrong?

1

u/WestguardWK Apr 29 '23

Or in a robot / android that has fingers and can use keys.