AI models may be capable of self-replicating without access to a datacenter
- Our experiments suggest that small AI models may be months away from being capable enough to self-replicate on commercial internet-of-things (IoT) devices, like smart ovens and off-brand Android TV boxes. A replicator like this would be challenging to shut down, since there’s no centralized point to shut off—though it may be slow (with a doubling time of days). Unlike non-AI malware, it could also figure out unfamiliar devices on its own. In our evaluations, a 9B model got inference running on 8 of the 9 hardware types we tested.
This could be very bad. See this post.
I seriously recommend doing the following, based on my experience in Portugal during the Iberian power failure.
- Get approximately $2,000 in cash – basically enough to last two weeks or so with an expectation of some price gouging.
- Print out two copies of all your financial, real estate, and medical records. If you use a password manager, print out one copy
- Put about 2/3 of the cash somewhere safe but accesable, like a safety deposit box if you have one
- Put one set of your printed records and your password hard copy in the secure location.
- Place the rest some place secure that is rapidly available.
- Also, seeing how people stocked up on alcohol during the early days of Covid, it might be worth getting a case or two of something you like. Best case, it’s an appreciated gift to friends. Worst case, it’s a rapidly appreciating investment.
In Portugal, Spain, and France during the power failure, everything reverted to cash, while the authorities worked to restore power. In this case it will be more complex, but I believe that people will behave with the expectation that services will be restored, so cash will work.
I also believe that services will be restored after a fashion, but the high-speed internet as we know it may be gone for good. The chances of this occurring are low, in my considered opinion, but they are rising and could be at 50% by the end of the year.
