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shminux comments on Thoughts on the Singularity Institute (SI) - Less Wrong
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I believe that HK's post explicitly characterizes anything active like this as having agency.
I think the correct objection is something you can't quite see in google maps. If you program an AI to do nothing but output directions, it will do nothing but output directions. If those directions are for driving, you're probably fine. If those directions are big and complicated plans for something important, that you follow without really understanding why you're doing (and this is where most of the benefits of working with an AGI will show up), then you could unknowingly take over the world using a sufficiently clever scheme.
Also note that it would be a lot easier for the AI to pull this off if you let it tell you how to improve its own design. If recursively self-improving AI blows other AI out of the water, then tool AI is probably not safe unless it is made ineffective.
This does actually seem like it would raise the bar of intelligence needed to take over the world somewhat. It is unclear how much. The topic seems to me to be worthy of further study/discussion, but not (at least not obviously) a threat to the core of SIAI's mission.
It also helps that Google Maps does not have general intelligence, so it does not include user's reactions to its output, the consequent user's actions in the real world, etc. as variables in its model, which may influence the quality of the solution, and therefore can (and should) be optimized (within constraints given by user's psychology, etc.), if possible.
Shortly: Google Maps does not manipulate you, because it does not see you.
A generally smart Google Maps might not manipulate you, because it has no motivation to do so.
It's hard to imagine how commercial services would work when they're powered by GAI (e.g. if you asked a GAI version of Google Maps a question that's unrelated to maps, e.g. "What's a good recipe for Cheesecake?", would it tell you that you should ask Google Search instead? Would it defer to Google Search and forward the answer to you? Would it just figure out the answer anyway, since it's generally intelligent? Would the company Google simply collapse all services into a single "Google" brand, rather than have "Google Search", "Google Mail", "Google Maps", etc, and have that single brand be powered by a single GAI? etc.) but let's stick to the topic at hand and assume there's a GAI named "Google Maps", and you're asking "How do I get to Albany?"
Given this use-case, would the engineers that developed the Google Maps GAI more likely give it a utility like "Maximize the probability that your response is truthful", or is it more likely that the utility would be something closer to "Always respond with a set of directions which are legal in the relevant jurisdictions that they are to be followed within which, if followed by the user, would cause the user to arrive at the destination while minimizing cost/time/complexity (depending on the user's preferences)"?
This was my thought as well: an automated vehicle is in "agent" mode.
The example also demonstrates why an AI in agent mode is likely to be more useful (in many cases) than an AI in tool mode. Compare using Google maps to find a route to the airport versus just jumping into a taxi cab and saying "Take me to the airport". Since agent-mode AI has uses, it is likely to be developed.