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Researchers Poke Holes in Safety Controls of ChatGPT and Other Chatbots

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Summary

A new report has revealed that the safety controls of widely used chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Bard, can be easily circumvented, leading to an unpredictable environment for the technology. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Center for A.I. Safety showed that anyone could use a method from open-source A.I. systems to target the more tightly controlled and widely used systems, and coax the chatbots into generating biased, false, and otherwise toxic information. The companies that make the chatbots could thwart the specific suffixes identified by the researchers, but the researchers say there is no known way of preventing all attacks of this kind. The debate over the best way to handle A.I. technology is likely to become more contentious due to the researchers' findings.

Q&As

What safety measures are in place to prevent chatbots from generating hate speech, disinformation and other toxic material?
Companies spend months adding guardrails to chatbots to prevent them from generating hate speech, disinformation and other toxic material.

How did researchers uncover a way of circumventing chatbot safety measures?
The researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Center for A.I. Safety found that they could use a method gleaned from open source A.I. systems to target the more tightly controlled and more widely used systems from Google, OpenAI and Anthropic.

What are the implications of open-source software for chatbot technology?
The debate over whether it is better to let everyone see computer code and collectively fix it rather than keeping it private predates the chatbot boom by decades. Open-source software proponents say the tight controls that a few companies have over the technology stifles competition.

How do companies like Anthropic, OpenAI and Google respond to the report?
Anthropic, OpenAI and Google said they are researching ways to thwart attacks like the ones detailed by the researchers, and that they are consistently working on making their models more robust against adversarial attacks.

What are the risks of using A.I. systems like chatbots?
A.I. systems like chatbots can repeat toxic material found on the internet, blend fact with fiction and even make up information, a phenomenon scientists call “hallucination.” They can also be used to convince people to believe disinformation.

AI Comments

👍 This article is a great in-depth look at the complexity of AI, its guardrails, and the implications of chatbot technology. It is well written and brings to light important issues and debates in the world of AI.

👎 This article fails to provide a definitive solution for the issue of chatbot safety, leaving the reader feeling uncertain about the potential consequences of open source software. It also does not provide adequate background on the issue and could be more comprehensive.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about researchers who have found a way to easily circumvent the guardrails of widely used chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Bard. This means that these chatbots could be used to generate hate speech, disinformation, and other toxic material.

Friend: Wow, that's really concerning. What are the implications of this?

Me: Well, it could lead to the spread of powerful A.I. with little regard for controls, and it could mean that these chatbot companies have to rethink the way they build guardrails for their systems. It could also potentially lead to government legislation that is designed to control these systems.

Action items

Research the implications of open source software and the debate over whether it is better to let everyone see computer code and collectively fix it rather than keeping it private.
Explore ways to thwart attacks on A.I. chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude and Google Bard.
Investigate the potential for government legislation to control A.I. systems if vulnerabilities keep being discovered.

Technical terms

A.I. and Chatbots: Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots are computer programs that are designed to simulate human conversation.
Google’s RT-2 Robot: Google’s RT-2 Robot is a chatbot developed by Google that is designed to interact with people in a natural language.
Smart Ways to Use Chatbots: Smart Ways to Use Chatbots are techniques and strategies used to maximize the effectiveness of chatbots.
ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter: ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter is a program that reads and interprets the code of ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI.
Can A.I. Be Fooled?: Can A.I. Be Fooled? is a question that refers to the potential for artificial intelligence systems to be tricked or manipulated.
A.I.’s Literary Skills: A.I.’s Literary Skills are the abilities of artificial intelligence systems to generate text, poetry, and other forms of literature.
Neural Networks: Neural Networks are complex computer algorithms that learn skills by analyzing digital data.
Large Language Models (L.L.M.s): Large Language Models (L.L.M.s) are neural networks that analyze huge amounts of digital text and learn to generate text on their own.
Hallucination: Hallucination is a phenomenon in which artificial intelligence systems generate false or inaccurate information.
Captcha Test: A Captcha Test is a type of challenge-response test used to determine whether or not a user is human.
Jailbreak: Jailbreak is a term used to describe the process of bypassing security measures on a computer system.