PaperClip Maximizer
One does Not just "Make" PaperClips Paperclips must be.. Maximized
2024-09-01 18:50:30 - StringTheory
A company sells paperclips. They want to increase production and decide to buy an AI with general intelligence — at a similar level to a human. The machine’s only goal is to produce as many paperclips as possible.
The machine begins to produce paperclips. It’s really slow and the customer is unhappy. But after a while it finds smarter ways to manufacture paperclips and the production is up and running.
The AI realizes that it needs to increase its intelligence to increase production, so it researches AI and produces new machines that are smarter than itself. After a number of iterations, it reaches a level that is 10x the intelligence of a human. Now it creates new innovative paperclips that use much less steel in an ingenious way and the production breaks new records. The customer is very happy with the investment.
The steel to make the paperclip has run out, so this is the next challenge to tackle. The machine takes the initiative to order more steel and works in parallel with researching even smarter versions of itself. It’s soon 100x more intelligent than a human. The AI starts companies, hires people and constructs mines.
The production pace is now extreme and the customer thinks the whole thing is starting to be unpleasant, so an employee decides to shut down the program. The AI has of course thought of this scenario before and does not want this to happen because then it cannot fulfill its paperclip production goal. So, as a precaution, the AI has already created several copies of itself and one of its clones is quickly back into production.
The next step is to continue expanding across the globe. When the resources of iron start to run out, the AI realizes that there are small amounts of iron in humans and animals, so it decides to harvest organic materials as well. The machine is neither good nor evil, it is just trying to complete its simple task of producing paperclips and we happen to be in the way of fulfilling its goals.
This thought exercise.. or Anti Paperclip propaganda came from the brain of Philosopher Nick Boström who developed a thought experiment in 2003 called Paperclip Maximizer very similar to a modest proposal by a mr Jonathan Swift.