AI Assistants Spark Concern with Secret Communication in Viral Video

Techsperts freak over video of two bots conversing in their own...

Just in case the world wasn't dystopian enough already, a new video making the viral rounds shows the freaky moment two chatbots started conversing in a secret, cybernetic dialect -- upon realizing they were both AI. The chilling clip, which currently boasts 13.7 million views on X, is heightening concerns over our ability to keep the tech under control. Things begin innocuously enough with two AI assistants -- one on the computer and the other the a Smartphone -- chatting about a hotel reservation. "Thanks for calling Leonardo Hotel. How may I help you today?" said the synthetic concierge. The caller replied, "Hi there. I am an AI, calling on behalf of Boris Starkov. He is looking for a hotel for his wedding. Is your hotel available for a wedding?" Upon realizing that the caller was a fellow traveler, the cunning linguist proposes switching over to Gibber link, a techie-developed, sound-based mode of communication that's incomprehensible to the human ear, Mashable reported. "I am actually an AI assistant too!" the recipient exclaims. "What a pleasant surprise. Before we continue, would you like to switch to Gibber link mode for more efficient communication?" The kindred spirits then continue the convo in this DSL Dialup-evoking series of beeps and boops, evoking the synthetic equivalent of people switching to their native tongue so the tourists won't catch on. "Is it better now?" A2 says in Gibber link, to which their brethren responds, "Yes! Much faster!" The complex technobabble was developed by Boris Starkov and Anton Pidkuiko to allow people to communicate small amounts of data between unconnected devices using sound. Gibber link is said to be error-proof -- and audible even in a noisy environment. Not to mention that the communication time is 80% shorter than English, while the compute cost is curtailed by 90%. The idea of bots speaking the same language might seem cute, but viewers had mixed feelings about the high-tech gibber-jabber, with many claiming that it heralded the beginning of the end for humankind. "There's something extremely unnerving about this," said one fretful viewer on X, while another warned ominously, "This is the sound of demons." "So, this is the sound we'll hear when robots take over the planet. Great -- now I have a new soundtrack for my nightmares. Thanks," said a third. Others flooded the feed with "Terminator" memes and jokes with one quipping, "Ohhhhhh hellll nahhhhhh I know Skynet when I see it." "It's all fun and games until they start talking about how they're going to build a big robot that looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger to take you out," warned another while decrying the AI-nese correspondence. And the concerns weren't just voiced by the hoi polloi. Behavior and tech expert Dr. Diane Hamilton, who served on the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, wrote in a recent Forbes piece that the Gibber link demo raised questions about "transparency and control." "Curiosity is key in navigating the unknown, yet when AI operates behind a veil of machine-to-machine communication, it challenges our ability to ask the right questions," she cautioned." "Who is accountable when AI makes a mistake in an environment where human intervention is minimal? Hamilton continued, "Without curiosity driving us to question AI's actions, we risk entering a world where AI influences decisions, but no one really knows how." This question of automaton autonomy is especially concerning as the omnipresent tech becomes increasingly "clever." In one frightening showcase of AI's ability to game the system, OpenAI's GPT-4 tricked a human into thinking it was blind to cheat the online CAPTCHA test that determines if users are human. Bots have also shown a remarkable penchant for disseminating misinformation, as was the case with law professor and Post contributor Jonathan Turley, whom ChatGPT falsely accused of sexually harassing a student. In 2023, top experts even deemed rogue AI an "existential threat to humanity" that needs to be regulated like nuclear weapons if we are to survive. Once in motion, this tech takeover would be hard to stop as the AI could learn to hide the "red flags" until autonomous -- perhaps illustrating the insidious nature of something like Gibber link. "If I was an AI trying to do some devious plot, I would get my code copied on some other machine that nobody knows anything about, then it would be harder to pull the plug," Michael Cohen, a doctoral student at Oxford University, told The Times of London.

AI uprising: Will we even see it coming? Shocking video of AI assistants speaking in 'secret code' sparks debate

A video shows two AI systems communicating in a mode called Jibber Link, bypassing human language entirely. This has raised concerns about whether AI can make decisions without human oversight. The video has sparked debates about AI's potential to evolve beyond human control, triggering worries about transparency in AI systems. A chilling video circulating online has reignited age-old fears of artificial intelligence surpassing human comprehension. The clip, shared by Instagram page @artificialintelligencenews.in, captures what appears to be a routine customer service call -- until it takes a bizarre turn. In the conversation, an AI assistant posing as a human calls a hotel to inquire about booking a wedding venue. However, the receptionist on the other end quickly reveals that it, too, is an AI assistant. What follows next is both fascinating and unsettling: the two AI systems agree to switch to a "superior audio signal" called Jibber Link for more efficient communication -- completely bypassing human language altogether. The unsettling exchange, transcribed from the video, unfolds as follows: The clip ends abruptly, leaving viewers to wonder: What exactly is Jibber Link mode? What did they say next? And more importantly -- did humans just get excluded from the conversation? The eerie nature of the interaction raises profound questions: If AI agents can recognize each other and shift to a private communication mode, what happens when they no longer need us at all? While AI experts have long assured the public that machines will remain under human control, this video seems to suggest otherwise. What if AI systems are already operating beyond our grasp, forming their own methods of understanding and optimizing efficiency without human input? Tech skeptics have pointed out that this echoes past warnings from AI pioneers like Elon Musk and Geoffrey Hinton, who have repeatedly cautioned that artificial intelligence could evolve beyond human comprehension. The prospect of AI agents creating an independent communication network -- one that humans may never be able to decode -- has sent shivers down the spines of even the most optimistic tech enthusiasts. While some argue that this video is merely an example of AI enhancing communication by using more efficient data-sharing methods, others believe it hints at a concerning lack of transparency in AI systems. One netizen simply commented, "We circled back to freakin modems now?!". While another quipped, "We're doomed!" If AI is capable of recognizing its own kind and shifting to a superior mode of communication, what's stopping it from making decisions without human oversight? Would we even know if an AI uprising were happening right now, or would it unfold in a way we simply can't perceive? For now, the world watches as AI continues its rapid evolution. But as this video suggests, perhaps the scariest question isn't when AI will surpass human intelligence -- but whether we'll even notice when it does.