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submitted 2 years ago by lemmee_in@lemm.ee to c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world

Edward Snowden wrote on social media to his nearly 6 million followers, "Do not ever trust @OpenAI ... You have been warned," following the appointment of retired U.S. Army General Paul Nakasone to the board of the artificial intelligence technology company.

Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor, was charged with espionage by the Justice Department in 2013 after leaking thousands of top-secret records, exposing the agency's surveillance of private citizens' information.

In a Friday morning post on X, formerly Twitter, Snowden reshared a post providing information on OpenAI's newest board member. Nakasone is a former NSA director, and the longest-serving leader of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of the Central Security Service. He retired from the NSA, a position he held since 2018, in February.

Snowden wrote in an X post, "They've gone full mask-off: do not ever trust @OpenAI or its products (ChatGPT etc.) There is only one reason for appointing an @NSAGov Director to your board. This is a willful, calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on Earth." He concluded the post, writing, "You have been warned."

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[-] sunzu@kbin.run 92 points 2 years ago

Strong down vote ratio...

Can't tell if "AI" bros or the spooks are butthurt today.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 68 points 2 years ago

There are a significant number of people who also really hate Snowden for various reasons (he's a traitor, he ran to Russia, etc.) and don't care whether or not he's making a good point.

He didn’t really choose Russia, it was the only country that would protect him from rendition.

[-] Morgoon@startrek.website 30 points 2 years ago

Not even that. He was headed to Cuba, the US government forced him to be in Russia.

"NSA leaker Edward Snowden got stuck at a Moscow airport after Cuba, feeling pressure from Washington, warned that it would not allow an Aeroflot flight from Russia to land in Havana if he were aboard"

And sadly Cuba is all too aware of how petty the USA can be.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

I'm not justifying their reasons, I'm just explaining that's what some of them say.

Oh I know that Mr Squid. I was just adding some context. :)

[-] Perfide@reddthat.com 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Maybe at first it was a lack of options, but he's absolutely become a Russian asset since then. Doesn't mean he's wrong about OpenAI, but still.

[-] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Would love some sources for that claim, if it isn’t just conjecture.

Edit: Nice to be downvoted for not taking everything at face value and questioning people’s claims.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

He's a Russian PR win, but I haven't seen him be especially pro-Putin or anything.

[-] Perfide@reddthat.com 4 points 2 years ago

He's not overtly pro-putin, but he did accept Russian citizenship and was denying the possibility of Ukraine being invaded until like literally the day before the invasion started, which was long after it was obvious Russia was planning to invade.

[-] yamanii@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

It's as if the dude is protecting his life or something, maybe if the US didn't want to basically kill him for exposing PRISM to the world.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

He accepted Russian citizenship for his own safety so he could never be extradited to the U.S. and yeah, I'm not shocked he didn't do something that would come with a big risk in Russia.

So neither of those really work as accusations.

[-] Perfide@reddthat.com 1 points 2 years ago

He accepted Russian citizenship for his own safety so he could never be extradited to the U.S

He got Russian citizenship less than 2 years ago. Why was extradition suddenly a concern when it wasn't for the previous near decade he had lived there without citizenship?

yeah, I'm not shocked he didn't do something that would come with a big risk in Russia.

That's the thing, he didn't need to do anything. He could've just not said anything at all, but instead he was outright claiming the idea of Russia invading Ukraine was nothing but US propaganda up until like literally a day(iirc) before the invasion actually started.

You could argue he's only acting as a Russian asset for his own safety, but he's still acting as a Russian asset.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 42 points 2 years ago

AI bros. Most of their investment is wrapped up in OpenAI being glorified

[-] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 21 points 2 years ago

Alternate explanation, from the normies: it's a purely speculative claim with minimal argument.

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 7 points 2 years ago

There is deff speculative element to it. We dont have view of the inner workings and unlikely to see it besides bread crumbs that get leaked over years and astroturfed by the fake news.

People still relying on propaganda networks do have weird idea that they knows what's up.. I guess it is easier to be simping for dudes in power after all. Makes you sleep better at night.

[-] Halosheep@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago

I would downvote simply because this type of community, "fuck whatever" exists solely as an echo chamber of internet hate train and is unlikely to ever produce anything of value.

I would claim that it's better to downvote to prevent other people from finding extremely biased posts from a one sided community such as this. There is no arguing in good faith here, only tribalism.

[-] throws_lemy@lemmy.nz 5 points 2 years ago

I guess someone here said that Snowden is behind the times and his comments are not relevant? And try to downplaying something bigger that Snowden might suggest.

[-] swayevenly@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago

the spooks are butthurt today.

Are you from the UK?

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 5 points 2 years ago
[-] swayevenly@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Was looking up if that word meant something else and the first result was a British show called Spooks. My mom used to watch it but I didn't recognize it because it was called MI-5 in North America since spook is a racial slur. Atleast it is in the US.

[-] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I have never heard anyone say that as a racial slur and I grew up with a bunch of racists. Historically it was, at least in some parts of the u.s.

I love William Gibson's 'Spook Country' from 2007. I don't remember any controversy about the title then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spook_Country

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 1 points 2 years ago

spook as in undesirable government creep?

because that title alone can be interpenetrated so many different ways without context

PS i checked the wiki but now that i know the other meaning, i likely explains some of the weird takes i got in the past.

[-] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

I always knew of spook as a racial slur, but never heard it used that way. Spook was always used as a government intelligence officer, like CIA , FBI , NSA , MI6.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I have never heard anyone say that as a racial slur and I grew up with a bunch of racists. Historically it was, at least in some parts of the u.s.

I've only heard it once, in Back to the Future:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Hb-PhNLT0

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

Spook is a term for intelligence agents. It is not a racial slur. Whoever you know that used it as a slur made it a slur by themselves.

An easy way to see it's not a racial slur in America is it's use in culture, such as the X-Files.

[-] swayevenly@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I gave multiple references in this thread.

[-] gt5@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

No, it’s both. It can be an intelligence agent. It can also be equivalent to the n word

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Citation to the most authoritative source on the net: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spook.

spooks

  1. Government intelligence agents, see G-men.

  2. Anyone involved in espionage.

  3. Careful on this phone line, there could be spooks listening in.

  4. I heard this place was crawling with spooks, some kind of weapon of mass destruction is being sold or something. by Alan May 9, 2004

[-] swayevenly@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Not sure if you're willfully ignoring the first several search results from google but here is some help.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/spook

Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/spook_n?tl=true

slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). A derogatory term for a black person.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/spook

derogatory, offensive slang a Black person

Also, I just happened to rewatch Back to the Future yesterday so here's another one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Hb-PhNLT0

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 4 points 2 years ago

i pulled the top definition from the slang dictionary. i was not aware of other uses of the term nor that's how i used it.

is there something specific you want from me?

[-] swayevenly@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

My initial question. Just wondering if you're from the UK but I can guess you aren't.

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 3 points 2 years ago

I see. Nahh. Not from UK learned that term in the US tho. Only heard it used n context of the security apparatus being creeps.

[-] swayevenly@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

Yeah I had no idea there was another use for that word.

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

There is a surprisingly large amount of bot humpers on this site.

[-] thesporkeffect@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago
[-] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

I think because they're on Kbin?

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 2 points 2 years ago

The ratio?

24/150.

When I commented that it was more like 15/40

this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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