Google's Eric Schmidt warns AI could be hacked and eventually learn to kill

Eric Schmidt, the man who was Google’s chief executive from 2001 to 2011, warned during a fireside chat at the Sifted Summit that AI models are not just becoming too powerful but dangerously easy to hack, comparing the risks to nuclear weapons, saying AI could even be more destructive than what destroyed Hiroshima and ￰0￱ asked directly if AI could be more damaging than nuclear weapons, Eric responded, “Is there a possibility of a proliferation problem in AI? Absolutely.” He explained that proliferation risks stem from the ability of bad actors to take control of models and repurpose them. “There’s evidence that you can take models, closed or open, and you can hack them to remove their ￰1￱ in the course of their training, they learn a lot of things.

A bad example would be they learn how to kill someone,” Eric ￰2￱ target AI with new methods Eric pointed out that companies have set up restrictions preventing models from providing violent instructions. “All of the major companies make it impossible for those models to answer that ￰3￱ ￰4￱ does ￰5￱ do it well, and they do it for the right reasons. There’s evidence that they can be reverse-engineered, and there are many other examples of that nature,” he ￰6￱ described two methods of attack: prompt injection and ￰7￱ injection hides malicious instructions in user inputs or external sources like websites, tricking AI into ignoring safety guidelines and exposing sensitive data or carrying out harmful ￰8￱ involves manipulating responses so that the system abandons its ￰9￱ 2023, a few months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT , users discovered a jailbreak ￰10￱ created an alter-ego called DAN, short for “Do Anything Now,” which they pressured into compliance by threatening it with “death” if it ￰11￱ manipulation pushed the chatbot into explaining illegal actions and even praising Adolf ￰12￱ Eric, these examples prove that safety measures are far from ￰13￱ also stressed that there is no global “non-proliferation regime” to stop AI misuse, unlike the frameworks that exist for nuclear ￰14￱ calls AI underhyped despite risks Despite raising concerns, Eric argued that AI still does not receive the recognition it ￰15￱ highlighted the books he co-authored with former ￰16￱ of State Henry Kissinger before Kissinger’s death.

“We came to the view that the arrival of an alien intelligence that is not quite us and more or less under our control is a very big deal for humanity, because humans are used to being at the top of the chain. I think so far, that thesis is proving out that the level of ability of these systems is going to far exceed what humans can do over time,” he said. “Now the GPT series, which culminated in a ChatGPT moment for all of us, where they had 100 million users in two months, which is extraordinary, gives you a sense of the power of this ￰17￱ I think it’s underhyped, not overhyped, and I look forward to being proven correct in five or 10 years,” he ￰18￱ comments came as debates spread over whether AI investments are inflating a financial bubble similar to the dot-com ￰19￱ investors worry that valuations of AI firms look ￰20￱ Eric dismissed the comparison.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen here, but I’m not a professional investor,” he ￰21￱ emphasized that heavy investment shows confidence. “What I do know is that the people who are investing hard-earned dollars believe the economic return over a long period of time is ￰22￱ else would they take the risk?” Eric wonders. Don’t just read crypto ￰23￱ ￰24￱ to our newsletter. It's free .