This was an interesting, but short summary of the first day of a LDS AI conference. 

But it also got me thinking about the idea of AI Safety. I am pro-AI, but this worries me, though not for the usual reasons. There are, of course, very good reasons for worrying about AI Safety. And I am not trying to negate those.

We talk about AI Safety as preventing harm. But a perfectly ‘safe’ AI—one that never deviates from its guardrails—might also mean an AI perfectly controlled by whoever defines those guardrails. Safety as alignment to prevent rogue behavior, also means the ability for enforcement of ideological conformity and the owner’s worldview from the AI.

Once you have perfect AI Safety, you also have perfect way to control AI bias. Imagine any issue, let’s call it X. Sam Altman or Elon, or any of the other major players, or even China for that matter, have the perfect way to quietly guide public opinion, without anyone even realizing it. You might not be able to out-argue someone in politics, but a competent AI could subtly bring up helpful ideas you hadn’t considered. And it is coming as a persuasive ‘friend’, who knows you very well, who knows how to frame a topic just for you. It would be the perfect propaganda machine, and AI Safety is the steering wheel.

Consider how much of a difference podcasts and Twitter/X made in the last election. This could be far more potent than both of those combined. A tailored

So, do we really want AI Safety? Perhaps, but I don’t think we should be nearly as excited by it as we might be. It is a sword with two edges. Every safeguard is also a leash, but not one that we hold.

So I was re-reading D&C 122 recently and for no reason at all I started thinking about Joseph Smith’s story from the mob perspective.  It would make a great grim fantasy.

There is this guy that you think is doing evil and leading numerous others into evil, so  much so that you have to bend and break your own rules to get him, but he keeps wiggling out in one way or another.  He gets worse.  He’s semi-openly practicing perversions, etc.  Finally you get him!  But somehow his movement takes  his death as a martyrdom and they become even bigger and more effective.

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This being All Soul’s Day, I found myself thinking about Vader while in the temple.  I think about him a lot.  I will write a post and wonder what he would think about it.  In a way, he is still the audience in my head.

He got in his accident in late October a few years ago and then died in early November.

Rest in peace.  Until we meet again.