[ExI] Who is covering corruption in AI?

[Charlie Stross]

On 1 Nov 2012, at 17:15, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 1, 2012 at 3:39 AM, Kevin G Haskell <kgh1kgh2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> <This isn't about friendship.  It is about the future of humanity and
>> beyond.  If someone has
>> stolen money and integrity from the efforts of our small SIAI community,
>> then
>> we need to know the exact specifics of why, why we should forgive, and
>> then how we can make sure it doesn't  happen again.
>> 
>> If there is something wrong with what is going on with the fundraising of
>> the  SIAI, then it needs
>> to be known, repaired like a machine, and then ensured that it never
>> happens again. If somebody has betrayed our machine goals, then who is it,
>> and how do we make sure they no longer pose a threat?
> 
> From what I've heard, the stolen money wasn't going *to* SIAI
> efforts.  Either there was a thief who was also an AI researcher
> but these were largely unconnected, or money was stolen
> *from* SIAI efforts.
> 
> So, no such threat detected yet.
> 
> (Now, the possibility of an AI thief is another story.  Say,
> someone training an AI on what data sets they can gather for
> phishing schemes and other things it is possible to do with
> zero physical interaction - note that the incident that caused
> this chain required actually physically placing a device on an
> ATM.  Anyway, take note of what schemes work and what
> schemes are eventually found out by the cops, as success
> and failure data points just like any neural net.)

* Clears throat *

There is a body of fiction exploring this subject. Notably "The Quantum Thief" (and sequellae -- it's going to be a trilogy) by Hannu Rajaniemi[*], and, ahem, "Rule 34" by yours truly. Also "REAMDE" by Neal Stephenson treads on the fringes of that territory.


-- Charlie

[*] First SF novel I've read where (a) quantum cryptography is a vital plot point, and (b) the author understands WTF he's talking about. (Hannu acquired a PhD in string theory before he got into writing SF.)