NEWS: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to adopt Grok

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it’s “proud” to move forward with a plan to deploy xAI’s Grok across the agency.

The USDA is also sponsoring Grok for federal approval, calling it a step toward equipping its workforce with the most capable AI available.

Definitely a big win for xAI. There is however a reason that the DoW had selected Anthropic’s Claude in the first place.

Really sad that government and Anthropic couldn’t come to an agreement, and I should also say that this is one area I support Anthropic against government.

Why?

Because government’s change.

While we may be ok with President Trump’s administration being flexible on AI safety restrictions, autonomous weapon capabilities, and mass surveillance (including domestic); we should all remain cognizant that President Trump is not immortal and the GOP does lose elections. Some day there will be an Obama-type, and we may not be as comfortable with him/her/it having such leeway.

Someday ‘the other guy’ will be elected and things we were totally comfortable ‘our guy’ having will be toxic to us then. Policies and precedent outlive administrations.

Just for clarity: I personally do not believe that ANY administration should have ability for mass domestic surveillance. Yes, President Trump is our guy, but he (and the people around him) are human beings. Like any human, they have failings. The ability for mass domestic surveillance is dangerous, and even if some may think our guy cannot do us wrong (he is human), what do they say when a Democrat eventually gets elected ...

I think it's necessary to draw a distinction between a surveillance system and an AI-based analysis system.

AI does not do surveillance itself. It can analyze data gathered by a surveillance system. It can ingest that data and do all its AI things with it. But it can't gather it. That's the job of cameras, wire-taps, MITM network attacks, packet sniffers, etc. All of which already exist and have been in operation for many years, and they are constantly improving.

1. We Americans are already under near-complete surveillance now. Don't kid yourself.

2. AI is already in use analyzing surveillance data. That's not going away.

3. The Pentagon tells its vendors what it wants. The vendors do not get to tell the Pentagon how to use it. America has enemies with similar or better surveillance and AI tools and arguably fewer moral scruples. The Pentagon is tasked with fighting those enemies, and they need every capability they can get their hands on.

Am I personally happy with that state of affairs? No, but it's the reality we're in. Whether the current or a future administration makes use of data gathering and AI analysis tools is a given. It's happening and will continue to happen. Because the alternative is defeat by our enemies, and ultimately, slavery to a system that's a lot worse than the one we have. sigh.

I fully understand your position, and I am very clear-eyed that there is a difference between reality and what would be perfect. It is also very clear that adversaries like China have absolutely zero restrictions (on anything, ranging from AI to bloody bio-weapons) and thus I cannot be naive on the need for the Good Guys to be ahead of the Bad Guys. So, I get your view and even agree with it.

It is just sad because that is the way all of us will be enslaved. Things will slowly creep in one direction until, one day, we wake up and it’s unrecognizable from what was.

As an example, look at culture and politics.

You may laugh at this, but what if I told you that President Kennedy was more Conservative than any Republican president we have had in at least three decades?

It may seem funny, but it’s no joke.

That is the outcome of creep. Slowly, the country has shifted Left. Things that were unacceptable, even anathema, are now ‘normal.’

You see this even on FR: when I joined a couple decades ago, there was a lot of decorum. Sure, every now and then someone would lose it (and get zotted), but generally things were genteel. Nowadays, if someone does not agree with something you posted they will often turn to insults.

Going back to AI, we will need to fully plug in to fight our enemies, we will lose elements of privacy for the greater good, and it will all make 100% sense (maybe more like 80%). We will make salient arguments on why it’s the only choice we have. Solid arguments that make perfect sense.

…then, some day, we will wake up and realize what was lost.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.