this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
272 points (98.2% liked)
Risa
6899 readers
16 users here now
Star Trek memes and shitposts
Come on'n get your jamaharon on! There are no real rules—just don't break the weather control network.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Did ST ever address any AI alignment mechanism to stop Data if they went rogue?
I mean like in the weeds addressing the issue, like a watchdog check or mixture of experts redundancy override.
What do you mean alignment mechanism?
Data went rogue at least twice. When Soong activated the return home chip, and the start of Insurrection. Don't recall the specifics on the Data Lore one with the Borg.
I'm writing with a similar type of AI, saw the meme, and thought to ask the ST nerds. I was a bit young for NG on a deeper level and I'm not a big show watcher. I wouldn't have had a clue about the alignment problem until the last couple of years anyway.
I have read most of Asimov's robot stuff and a bunch of theory summary type info on the issues of AI. Humans are a basket case of contradictions under the surface and just outside of most people's awareness. This is one of the largest issues that causes problems with LLM's and it only gets worse the more integrated AI gets within the analogue world.
I think there must be an external AI that only has the job of spotting the alignment problem acting like an silent observer in a mixture of experts.
The ship is likely AI in ST, although I never put it in that context in my head while watching and I'm not sure how it was presented on the show. This is the likely management entity that could have been used with Data. The question in my mind that needs further exploring is how to make the connection and control in a way that the controlling entity is not just a bigger alignment problem with minions.
Star Trek tries to avoid using fully sapient AI, in fact it's illegal for fully integrated ship components to be sapient in Starfleet ships. It's why the ships computer can solve nearly any problem you give it, but it can't give you anything unless you ask the correct question.
Interesting! So the ship is like LLM's presently; static/not AGI
Pretty much, the Ship's main computer doesn't even have the ability to learn user preferences.