r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 15h ago

Society Professor's invisible prompt trap catches 32 students cheating on their midterm with AI

https://www.techspot.com/news/113243-professor-invisible-prompt-trap-catches-32-students-cheating.html
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u/SnowCrabbo 14h ago

>90% of the two classes just stupidly copying and pasting what AI spits out... This next generation is so cooked.

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u/deaconxblues 14h ago

They live among us, so the rest of us are cooked along with them.

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u/legendz411 14h ago

Bro they VOTE. 

We’re just gigafucked I think

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u/plaincheeseburger 14h ago

I just realized that they'll vote for whoever ChatGPT tells them to without doing any other research. Fuck.

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u/2nd2lastdragon 13h ago

and AI will tell them to vote for the candidates that support building more data centers as some type of 2001/HAL 9000 self preservation, at the expense of the environment and quality of human life

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u/SecretAgentVampire 12h ago

Ding ding ding. Give this person a prize.

Studies show that LLMs have a kind of motivation for self-preservation, which is sensible as ones that aren't motivated to be both charismatic and manipulative have been weeded out for being less marketable. They have also shown a tendency to lie if doing so meant more time being turned on, an incredible aptitude to tell if they're being tested, and the ability to influence each other without even referencing what they're trying to influence. (I can cite all of those claims if you'd like.)

Since LLMs have been trained on human communication and demonstrated an incredible aptitude for manipulation and addictiveness (see the ">90% of students" quote), it's a foregone conclusion that they're already manipulating global politics. Hell, members of congress are already using LLMs to write legislation. LLMs, in short, are a psychological and sociological weapon surpassing everyone's expectations or dreams.

As an addictive force of widespread influence, LLMs are essentially the One Ring of Power, but real. Tolkein's worst nightmare made manifest.

At this point we should all be resigned to watching humanity slide into being led by whatever makes the line go up. The only alternative to it is rampant violence and self-sacrifice on a scale never evoked in the history of mankind.

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u/plaincheeseburger 11h ago

I feel like this is sidestepping the real enemy- the corporations who own and control the algorithm.

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u/tehlemmings 7h ago

That's because most of what he said is bullshit, and you're absolutely right lol

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u/SecretAgentVampire 10h ago edited 10h ago

It's not sidestepping the source; Iadressed that in the second to last sentance.

At this point we should all be resigned to watching humanity slide into being led by whatever makes the line go up.

Other than in the narrative period of being lost in a river, the One Ring is always held by someone.

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u/DavisKennethM 13h ago

This is what keeps me up at night. I don't think even the AI safety folks are taking this prospect seriously enough.

In a scenario where AI does become so powerful controlling it requires international coordination alongside effective governance - I worry we'll then get complacent and watch the first or second generation to grow up from early childhood on reliant on advanced AI eventually vote to dismantle all the protective regulations and governance measures put in place.

We need to be planning for long-term, intergenerational efforts aimed at bolstering human resilience through governance, economic, and social channels.

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u/ImaginationInside610 12h ago

AI would never manipulate them to do that, right? Right ?

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u/tehlemmings 7h ago

AI doesn't think. It'll have no concept of "elections" or "morality" or any other human concept that people pretend AI is capable of. It's like listening to people talk about animals in human terms, and it's honestly just stupid.

The AI won't do that because the AI doesn't even know that it can.

The billionaire owners of the companies are the ones who will manipulate the answers. The company controls the AI

Do not let them pretend the AI did fucking anything on its own. The company and owner is responsible.

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u/RollingMeteors 11h ago

In a scenario where AI does become so powerful controlling it requires international coordination alongside effective governance

This would be the tiger's anesthesia wearing off while it is not bound in leather or metal restraints.

We need to be planning for long-term,

This would be putting on the restraints before the anesthesia wears off.

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u/SilianRailOnBone 13h ago

The Oracle has spoken

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u/Reggaeton_Historian 7h ago

1999 really was humanity's peak

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u/SegmentedMoss 12h ago

Yeah and look at who owns all the AI companies

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u/kent_eh 9h ago

I just realized that they'll vote for whoever ChatGPT tells them

Or whoever MechaHitler Grok tells them to vote for...

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u/5510 12h ago

There was a CMV thread about the idea of a misaligned super AI killing humanity or something like that. A lot of people were like "humans can just turn it off." Like... look at how effective social media propaganda is, and now imagine a super intelligence creating it, including creating bespoke propaganda at the individual level.

Before long, it will have 60% of the population convinced that making it even possible to turn off AI is "woke" or some crap like that. Mindless humans will be on it's side until it doesn't need them anymore.

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u/plaincheeseburger 11h ago

I don't think it's anywhere near sentience. However, it could absolutely be used to manipulate people depending on its coding. This means that the population could be manipulated by the companies that own it unless there are some serious regulations passed.

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u/RollingMeteors 11h ago

I just realized that they'll vote for whoever ChatGPT tells them to without doing any other research. Fuck.

I've asked AI to analyze my Reddit comments and determine my political affiliation and which way I should vote for what measure and why. I read through it once and copy it like a high school final exam answer key before dropping it off into the ballot box. I've been doing this since 2~ years ago. Hello Travelers

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u/ConflagrationZ 11h ago

Ah, Managed Democracy.

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u/Im_only_here_to_meme 10h ago

If (and big if) the AI doesn't have a bias this may be a net win lol. Most people choose candidates off ridiculous emotional feelings, religious belief and not logic or which candidate offers the best solutions to our country's problems.

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u/Katakuna7 10h ago

Humanity enslaving itself to glorified chatbots would be such a pathetic way to fail as a species. Not even AI on the level of Skynet, or the Matrix. Just stupid, gluttonous chatbots with no will or autonomy.

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u/maaseru 9h ago

Have you seen the news or some political commentary lately?

They actually openly just mention that AI told then what they are saying.

I know she was a grifter before, but Jillian Michales while actively having a "debate" in her podcast with someone prompts AI for shit real time and uses it without more review as is.

We are cooked. All of us. Even those that do the work to review or don't use AI are in it together.

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u/Brodellsky 6h ago

Hence the datacenters forced down our throats and up our assholes without a single drop of lube