Disagree, I think we do in fact have to treat AI models as capricious genies, at least until the alignment problem is fully solved.
(I'm also not sure the alignment problem is even possible to fully solve.)
(I'm also not sure the alignment problem is even possible to fully solve.)
It only mostly worked up until now; with models such as reported, it's felony-as-a-service if you use language a bit too hyperbolic, e.g. "we need X by the end of the day!" -> [thinking: there's no way we can do X before the end of the day with current resources, but what if I get a bunch of cards to buy more token credit…]
And then consider that they have vast latent capabilities, infinite patience and no moral code.
How do you prove the alignment problem is solved?
It's directly equivalent to asking this question of a human:
"How do I know this human I'm talking with now really is a nice person, and isn't just pretending to be nice to take advantage of me in future?"
In short you can't ever really prove it. You can only be careful and judge on past behavior, and expand trust carefully. As for humans, so for AI.
On the other hand, there's a more fundamental problem is we don't really know what "nice" even means, and even with machines whose inner states we can see relatively easily, we don't know how to interpret those inner states well enough to tell if we're looking at superficial or deep motivations, the difference between "be nice today" and actually being motivated about your best interest.
The thing is, all of these states are constantly in flux, and a personality is kind of like a trend on the organism's feeling states. AKA: There's no guarantee that something nice today will be nice tomorrow, and just because it's nice today doesn't mean it's beguiling you to be mean tomorrow.
Dropping the subtlety, I think the following is self-evident (but the perspective's rareness suggests that Upton Sinclair's famous comment on salaries and comprehension may apply):
If you can't ever prove the capricious genie is trustworthy, then you should not summon it at all.
If people have, you should do all you ethically can to limit the damage and persuade them to not do it again.
You could throw your hands up and say "It can't be done." You might be right.
With that attitude, we'd still have legalized chattel slavery and children under twelve working in factories, so I submit it is not a constructive or worthwhile mindset to hold onto.