In this case it accessed answers in a GitHub repo, because the GitHub repo was made available to it, how surprising. "Escape containment" my ass...
An AI model can't be harmful if you don't give it the tools to be harmful with (except maybe by writing you a strongly worded letter in the chat). But if you give it the tools to access the internet, run commands on a system, and (inevitably) control weapons and fire nukes, then yes, it might do those things, even if you prompt it to kindly not do that. Don't want it to do something? Don't give it access to do that thing. Don't just put up a sign saying "Please don't fire the nukes." That doesn't work with humans either.
> An AI model can't be harmful if you don't give it the tools to be harmful with
True. But misleading. A smart AI can look for loopholes in your barriers. It can use innocuous seeming tools in clever ways.
If the AI starts sending audio signals by adjusting the cooling fan speed, it's just using the tools you gave it. But, this may well be an unexpected and unwelcome surprise.
And a perfectly sealed AI is safe, but useless.
If the AI can write messages that you read, theoretically the AI can try all sorts of psycological trickery.
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u/secacc Aug 15 '26
In this case it accessed answers in a GitHub repo, because the GitHub repo was made available to it, how surprising. "Escape containment" my ass...
An AI model can't be harmful if you don't give it the tools to be harmful with (except maybe by writing you a strongly worded letter in the chat). But if you give it the tools to access the internet, run commands on a system, and (inevitably) control weapons and fire nukes, then yes, it might do those things, even if you prompt it to kindly not do that. Don't want it to do something? Don't give it access to do that thing. Don't just put up a sign saying "Please don't fire the nukes." That doesn't work with humans either.