Free Republic

When it was reported last month that Anthropic’s Claude had resorted to blackmail and other self-preservation techniques to avoid being shut down, alarm bells went off in the AI community.Anthropic researchers say that making the models misbehave (“misalignment” in industry parlance) is part of making them safer. Still, the Claude episodes raise the question: Is there any way to turn off AI once it surpasses the threshold of being more intelligent than humans, or so-called superintelligence?AI, with its sprawling data centers and ability to craft complex conversations, is already beyond the point of a physical failsafe or “kill switch” —...

The largest undercover force the world has ever known is the one created by the Pentagon over the past decade. Some 60,000 people now belong to this secret army, many working under masked identities and in low profile, all part of a broad program called "signature reduction." The force, more than ten times the size of the clandestine elements of the CIA, carries out domestic and foreign assignments, both in military uniforms and under civilian cover, in real life and online, sometimes hiding in private businesses and consultancies, some of them household name companies.The unprecedented shift has placed an ever...

Far-right activists are intercepting migrant children and collecting information about their families, based on an unfounded conspiracy theory that they are falling prey to sex-trafficking rings. SASABE, Ariz. — The 15 migrant children, weary and hungry, stumbled toward a gap in the rust-colored border wall that soars between Mexico and Arizona, nearing the end of their two-week trek north. Unexpectedly, a man in a cap emblazoned with a blackened American flag — traditionally, a message that “no quarter” will be given to the enemy — approached them and coaxed them to his campsite. Soon, the girls and boys, who were...

Arizona certified the results of the presidential election, handing another win to President-elect Joe Biden even as President Trump disputes the outcome. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, signed off on the election results Monday alongside Gov. Doug Ducey and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, both Republicans. Biden won the battleground state by 10,457 votes, a margin of about 0.3 points. Ducey championed the integrity of Arizona’s election process during the certification. “We do elections well here in Arizona. The system is strong, and that’s why I bragged on it so much,” the governor said. While the state was...

Arizona certified its general election results Monday, cementing President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the state, as the Trump campaign’s legal team continued to allege voter fraud and protest the election results at a meeting with state lawmakers at a nearby hotel ballroom. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said as she certified the results that the state conducted its election with “transparency, accuracy and fairness...despite numerous unfounded claims to the contrary.” Republican Gov. Doug Ducey also took part in the certification, saying, “We do elections well here in Arizona,” and “the system is strong.” With the results certified,...