r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • 19d ago

Artificial Intelligence Anthropic CEO warns of AI-driven botnet 'swarm' taking over the entire internet — 'In 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet'

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-ceo-warns-of-ai-driven-botnet-swarm-taking-over-the-entire-internet-in-6-12-months-such-a-swarm-could-be-capable-of-taking-over-the-entire-internet-with-a-persistent-botnet
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u/kiwiboyus 19d ago

Unregulated algorithms are the problem. They removed choice and effort, and now "AI" is taking it to the next phase.

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u/EaterOfPenguins 19d ago

This. The rise of personalized, algorithmic content curation in search and social media is pretty much the exact point that things started downhill in a major way.

AI takes that problem that we never solved and multiplies it.

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u/shitty_mcfucklestick 19d ago

I still don’t like that 5 or 6 apps have become almost the entire gateway to being online or what we know as the internet though. There used to be variety and true independence before big tech became the gatekeepers of everything that happens, algorithm or not.

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u/Kilgore_Trout_50000 19d ago

God I miss the internet of the early 2000’s

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u/Firecracker500 19d ago

All we wanted was mountain dew: gushing granny

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u/TheGrandNagus 19d ago

I miss my chronological feeds of only people/things I have chosen to follow. The YouTube subscription page is like the last bastion of that, and they've started to fuck it up recently by featuring some videos at the top out of order and shoving shorts in the middle.

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u/the_macks 18d ago

Reddits gone this way now too with the for you page.

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u/LongJohnSelenium 19d ago

Fun part is that 10 out of 10 people only think it affects other people though.

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u/EaterOfPenguins 19d ago

You're not wrong. When it comes to describing most of the insidious behavior and opinion manipulation done with this tech I usually make sure to end my commentary with "...and knowing how it works does not inoculate you from falling prey to it."

I am 100% sure I've had opinions colored by, if not outright defined by, some content/discussion I never would've even considered was targeted, astroturfed, or otherwise puppeteered by forces I would normally oppose.

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u/trenthowell 19d ago

We need to follow Dunes instruction book and have a Algorithmic Jihad. No more algorithms for targetting people or groups.

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u/BababooeyHTJ 19d ago

Don’t say they! Google has played a major role in the current internet. That monopoly should have been broken up a long time ago. Every single website has developed itself around google analytics for ages now.

Obviously the social media platforms are an issue but they still seem like more of a choice than google except for facebook’s data collection. YouTube and its algorithm is as bad and of course owned by Google.

Still amazes me that Microsoft had an antitrust case for including a web browser in their operating system. The shit primarily google has pulled since seems so much worse.

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u/courtesy_patroll 19d ago

Yea, but personal accountability is also a problem. You can choose drugs all day everyday. People are choosing their screens and social media.

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u/kiwiboyus 19d ago

People are choosing their screens and social media.

You say on Reddit, which is just another social media platform (like it or not). The point is there was a clear and noticeable difference between early Twitter, Facebook, Instagram experience and post algorithm experience. You went from seeing just the people and subjects you chose to follow, to having your feed "curated" for you. It wasn't to improve the users experience like they claimed, it was to make it more addictive so they could show you more ads.

There is always room for personal responsibility, but that doesn't excuse corporate manipulation and enshittification.

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u/courtesy_patroll 19d ago

And I never said it did

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u/NuncaMasTomo 19d ago

People are the problem.

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u/acepukas 19d ago edited 19d ago

Right? For some reason people now associate "algorithm" with evil corporations. Algorithm is such a broad term. You can't regulate a fundamental building block of programming. I don't want the police kicking my door down because I'm trying to teach my kid the bubble sort algorithm.