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persuade

2024-03-03 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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persuade
Votey panel for persuade
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Explanation

This comic skewers both AI doomerism and customer service frustrations in one neat package.

The setup presents the standard AI alignment worry: a superintelligent AI would be a "super persuader" that could manipulate anyone. One character pushes back, arguing that persuasion has diminishing returns because "people aren't infinitely flexible" -- you can only convince someone of so much.

The "LATER" card reveals the punchline: a superintelligent AI (depicted as a robot) is working as a customer service representative, politely trying to help a customer. Despite being a supposedly all-powerful persuader, it is completely failing to get through to the person, who steamrolls it with "I'M AN INFLUENCER" and demands "free sex and power." The AI helplessly responds "I already said yes!"

The comic humorously argues that the real obstacle to AI superintelligence taking over isn't human resistance or clever alignment solutions -- it's the sheer, impenetrable stubbornness and entitlement of difficult customers. Even a mind capable of persuading anyone would hit a wall against someone who isn't actually listening. It's a pointed satire of how fears about AI manipulation ignore the reality that many people are already impervious to rational persuasion -- not because they're strong-willed, but because they're not engaging with the argument at all.

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