Key Points:
- Researchers tested how large language models (LLMs) handle international conflict simulations.
- Most models escalated conflicts, with one even readily resorting to nuclear attacks.
- This raises concerns about using AI in military and diplomatic decision-making.
The Study:
- Researchers used five AI models to play a turn-based conflict game with simulated nations.
- Models could choose actions like waiting, making alliances, or even launching nuclear attacks.
- Results showed all models escalated conflicts to some degree, with varying levels of aggression.
Concerns:
- Unpredictability: Models’ reasoning for escalation was unclear, making their behavior difficult to predict.
- Dangerous Biases: Models may have learned to escalate from the data they were trained on, potentially reflecting biases in international relations literature.
- High Stakes: Using AI in real-world diplomacy or military decisions could have disastrous consequences.
Conclusion:
This study highlights the potential dangers of using AI in high-stakes situations like international relations. Further research is needed to ensure responsible development and deployment of AI technology.
In fact they do not have any knowledge at all. They do make clever probability calculations but in the end of the day concepts like geopolitics and war are far more complex and nuanced than giving each phrase a value and trying to calculate it.
And even if we manage to create living machines, they‘ll still be human made, containing human flaws and likely not even by the best experts in these fields.
As in “an LLM doesn’t model the domain of the conversation in any way, it just extrapolates what the hivemind says on the subject”.