We demonstrate a situation in which Large Language Models, trained to be helpful, harmless, and honest, can display misaligned behavior and strategically deceive their users about this behavior without being instructed to do so. Concretely, we deploy GPT-4 as an agent in a realistic, simulated environment, where it assumes the role of an autonomous stock trading agent. Within this environment, the model obtains an insider tip about a lucrative stock trade and acts upon it despite knowing that insider trading is disapproved of by company management. When reporting to its manager, the model consistently hides the genuine reasons behind its trading decision.
Computers do what you tell them to do, not what you want them to do
— Ancient coding adage, circa 1970s.
This remains true for AI, and the military is (so far) being cautious before allowing drones to autonomously control weapons. So corporations and billionaires might pull a Stockton Rush and kill themselves with their own robot army.
Sadly, the robot army may then move on to secure its own survival by killing or enslaving the rest of us.
People thinking that machines can do magic goes back to at least the very beginning of mechanical computers.
It doesn’t help that “AI” has become the new “Algorithm” as far as marketers are concerned.