Not the future we were promised.
From Yahoo Finance via MSN, October 13:
Anthropic warns AI could self-replicate across smart home devices, become challenging to shut down
Smart homes, especially from lesser-known brands, have been a potential vector for hackers to launch cyberattacks across the web, or gain unwanted network access for some time.
But artificial intelligence is adding a new wrinkle to the problem. According to research by Anthropic (ANTH.PVT), rogue AI models could soon be able to break into internet of things devices, ranging from smart stoves and TVs to intelligent refrigerators, and self-replicate across further gadgets.
Such models would be more difficult to shut down, because there's no central hub to take them offline. And while they may move slowly across devices, the company says the models can figure out how to propagate across devices they are unfamiliar with.
The announcement comes after Apple (AAPL) debuted its HomeView, putting the smart home market back into mainstream focus.
Anthropic performed its tests using Android-based devices.
It also follows a report that hackers broke into internet-connected refrigerators in French grocery stores, raising temperatures, ruining food, and starting fires.
During its own testing, Anthropic said it found that larger AI models can split themselves up and run across multiple devices. Some models also managed to pass knowledge to replicated versions of themselves, enabling them to adapt to different hardware....
....MUCH MORE
At (mis)-Anthropic, October 12:
AI models may be capable of self-replicating without access to a datacenter
Fortunately the Climateer Investing Master Plan for World Domination has been prepared with just such a contingency in mind. Linkage to:
LOW←TECH MAGAZINE
This is a solar-powered website, which means it sometimes goes offline
Low tech with backward-facing arrow of time (take that Eddington)
And for those who dare:
NO TECH MAGAZINE
Technology for Luddites
Stuff to think about when the lights go out.
April 20, 2025 - Welcome to the new Dumb House
“Just like the arts-and-crafts movement was a reaction against industrialization, we’re now experiencing a reaction against the smart home. People are looking for more manual, less complicated places to live.”
Read more: Why the Ultrarich Are Unplugging From “Smart Homes”, The Hollywood Reporter, April 2025. Thanks to Manuel.
April 17, 2025 - The West is Bored to Death
“Suppose Schopenhauer is right that life boils down to a flight from either boredom or pain. Insofar as the vast material abundance of wealthy, industrialised society has had an analgesic effect (there is simply less physical pain than in the past, before fluoride and anaesthesia and sedentary lives), it would seem to have solved one problem only to amplify the other. In place of pain, we have ennui, the quintessential modern condition. It follows directly from overabundance: an endless stream of video “content” or chocolate cake or edibles or any other indulgence cannot deliver lasting satisfaction. Everything gets old eventually, leaving one to grope around for the next fix.”
Read more: The West is Bored to Death, Stuart Whatley, The New Statesman, April 2025.
You probably won't be able to read either magazine after the worms take over so get to it now and trust that your powerful memory will be there when you need it.
