LessWrong posts by zvi

“AI #130: Talking Past The Sale” by Zvi

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Description

One potentially big event was that DeepSeek came out with v3.1. Initial response was very quiet, but this is DeepSeek and there are some strong scores especially on SWE and people may need time to process the release. So I’m postponing my coverage of this to give us time to learn more.

Meta is restructuring its AI operations, including a hiring freeze. Some see this as some sign of an AI pullback. I don’t think that is right.

Nor do I think what they are doing with their Ai companions is right, as we got a look inside their 200 page document of what they think is acceptable. I wrote about current AI Companion Conditions at Meta and also xAI.

The weirdest event of the week was America and China both self-sabotaging on chips. America is trying to sell Nvidia H20s to China and looks open [...]

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Outline:

(01:44) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility

(06:58) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility

(12:54) Huh, Upgrades

(17:41) Absurd Sycophancy

(21:19) The Real Alignment Problem Is We Don't Know How To Align Models

(29:15) Unprompted Suggestions

(29:55) On Your Marks

(34:11) Choose Your Fighter

(36:46) Preserve Our History

(40:48) Autonomous Friendly Robots

(42:00) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon

(46:25) Oops I Did It Again

(49:38) You Drive Me Crazy

(56:12) They Took Our Jobs

(59:28) Get Involved

(59:42) Introducing

(01:00:02) In Other AI News

(01:04:19) Show Me the Money

(01:08:59) Lol We're Meta

(01:13:33) Quiet Speculations

(01:16:14) The Quest for Sane Regulations

(01:16:35) Chip City

(01:27:33) The Week in Audio

(01:35:15) Rhetorical Innovation

(01:42:09) Misaligned!

(01:42:44) Open Models

(01:45:48) AI Model Welfare

(01:48:41) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult

(01:51:08) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone

(01:55:02) The Lighter Side

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First published:

August 21st, 2025


Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dt22xhz4jeynahRY4/ai-130-talking-past-the-sale

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Bar graph titled

The graph shows performance scores for 10 different AI models, ranging from DeepSeek-V3 at 23% to Gemini 2.5 Pro at 75%. The scores represent the percentage of tasks successfully completed, weighted by attempts needed." style="max-width: 100%;" />

Tier-ranking chart showing AI language models from S-tier to D-tier.
Table showing model names and defect percentages for AI language models.
Chat interface screenshot showing conversation about evaluating learning claims and steps.
Table comparing AI model versions with success rates between 91.9-99.9%.
Graph showing GPT-likeness probability in economic paper abstracts from 2021-2025, with trend line.
Stock price chart showing 6-month USD performance, peaking at 747.72.
Robot sitting in therapy session with therapist holding clipboard.
Line graph titled
Bar graphs comparing
Two men in black attire standing near stone wall, one wearing sunglasses.
Graph titled
Bar graph:
A tier list ranking tech companies and platforms from S-tier to F-tier, featuring logos of major tech corporations including NVIDIA, Google, Meta, Microsoft, IBM, and others arranged in descending performance categories.
Graph showing AI chip performance metrics and U.S. export control thresholds for Nvidia and Huawei.
Diagram comparing four approaches to managing technology development and associated risks. The image shows comparisons between less optimal (marked with X) and more optimal (marked with checkmark) sequences for implementing safety technologies, defensive technologies, substitute technologies, and beneficial technologies.
A tier-based chart showing AI company logos and their market positions.</p><p>The chart is organized into 6 tiers from top to bottom:<br /> - Frontier: Whale and geometric symbols<br /> - Close competitors: Stability AI and another tech logo<br /> - Noteworthy: Tencent, cartoon characters, Minimax, and other tech companies<br /> - On the rise: Various tech logos including Xiaomi MiMo<br /> - Honorable mentions: Several companies including Huawei and BAAI</p><p>This appears to be ranking different AI technology companies and their relative positions in the market.
i/o tweets:
AI Notkilleveryoneism Memes tweets:
Pliny the Liberator tweets a GIF showing a brown dog with a red collar sitting on what appears to be a couch or bed. Mark Valorian replies:
List titled
University of East London advertisement about WiFi's impact on climate change
Three ranked lists titled

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