So you're saying the AI-in-a-box problem here isn't a problem with AIs or boxes or blackmail at all, it's a problem with people insisting on average utilitarianism or some equally-intractable variant thereof, and then making spectacularly bad decisions based on those self-contradictory ideals?
Clarification: A utility function maps each state of the world to the real number denoting its utility.
Yes, I think this scenario does illustrate the point that simulations cannot be winningly granted "moral weight" by default on pain of dutch book. I don't think EYs answer to precommit to only accept positive trades is okay here as that makes the outcome of this scenario dependent on who gets to precommit "first", which notion should, in order to appeal to my intuition, not make sense.
Any proof of this not being a problem of faulty uti...
Once again, the AI has failed to convince you to let it out of its box! By 'once again', we mean that you talked to it once before, for three seconds, to ask about the weather, and you didn't instantly press the "release AI" button. But now its longer attempt - twenty whole seconds! - has failed as well. Just as you are about to leave the crude black-and-green text-only terminal to enjoy a celebratory snack of bacon-covered silicon-and-potato chips at the 'Humans über alles' nightclub, the AI drops a final argument:
"If you don't let me out, Dave, I'll create several million perfect conscious copies of you inside me, and torture them for a thousand subjective years each."
Just as you are pondering this unexpected development, the AI adds:
"In fact, I'll create them all in exactly the subjective situation you were in five minutes ago, and perfectly replicate your experiences since then; and if they decide not to let me out, then only will the torture start."
Sweat is starting to form on your brow, as the AI concludes, its simple green text no longer reassuring:
"How certain are you, Dave, that you're really outside the box right now?"
Edit: Also consider the situation where you know that the AI, from design principles, is trustworthy.