this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026
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You can give them intentions. Grok is not a Nazi by Magic.
Don’t know if I’d call that an intention of the machine but rather the creator. Hate to be that kind of person but it’s similar to the whole thing of “guns don’t kill, people do.”
LLMs aren’t people. They’re not self-aware and don’t have any inner complexities like say, a dog, or a sheep has. There’s no drive or motivation. It’s just maths.
If you tie someone to a train track, and a train comes along killing them, it’s not like the train or the track intended to kill the person. That was the intent of you, who “programmed” the scenario.
Similar to guns, strict control is what will be needed to fix these kinds of things. Megalomaniac billionaires who see people as nothing but numbers running amok with narcissistic manipulator systems isn’t a recipe for anything good.
It doesn’t really matter whether it’s the Machine or the creator.
The point is, AIs can be programmed to lie, much like Grok does. And if they can be programmed to lie, then they are not reliable for anything at all. We are going through a decent period where AI can be used for a few things reliably, but even these will surely be enshittified.
Oooh, philosophy! I disagree. I think that if a person programs a LLM to give disinformation, that's all it is. A lie giving misinformation knowing that's it's disinformation, intending do deceive. The LLM doesn't know what's true or false. It doesn't intend anything, because it is not a conscious entity. The person who programmed it can be lying by disseminating false information, the LLM cannot, any more than a broken clock or thermometer is 'lying' about the time or temperature.
I am trying to get away from the philosophy actually 😅 in the end what matters is how these tools are being used, not so much their inherent characteristics.
Can you envision a world where AI chatbots will be used to lead you down certain political beliefs (e.g. capitalism good, socialism bad) product recommendations will be made based on how much brands are willing to pay for ad placements, and your psychological state will be measured and molded to the interests of the AI owner? I can. It’s also already happening.