35
u/Tricky_Rule_4565 1d ago
More info
From public statements it seems like he tried to record sensitive meetings and OAI are denying any data exfiltration of models
23
u/JoNike 1d ago
Doesn't look like the guy was trained in Opsec, leaving his wallet in the same bag, using his girlfriend AI account, getting spotted multiple time on camera. It also look like a somewhat rushed job based on the timeline exposed in the article. I would be very surprised if the guy was working on the behalf of a State actor.
My theory (based on nothing else than the timeline) is that it's someone who might have wanted to whistleblow internal information but didn't have access to anything damning.
21
-8
u/SGC-UNIT-555 AGI by Tuesday 1d ago edited 1d ago
I suspect he was an EA adjacent guy and that he wanted to leak recorded discussions concerning AI safety to the media but got caught.
11
u/Tricky_Rule_4565 1d ago
Warrantless speculation. he’s almost definitely a spy for the KSA.
Every time I open reddit, I’m greeted with conspiracy brained people (and not even plausible ones either).2
u/I_Am_Become_Dream 21h ago edited 21h ago
This picture was during a Silicon Valley visit where they did an event with exemplary tech professionals in the US diaspora. Pretty standard for heads of states to meet with diaspora. Modi did it too.
A fan picture with Obama at some event isn't proof you're working at the white house.
-4
u/zero0n3 1d ago
Spies don’t get caught this easily.
More likely a whistleblower or adjacent than a fucking state level spy.
You honestly think spies are this sloppy?
Maybe a spy used this person as his tool, but the person in question is absolutely not a spy.
3
u/Gotisdabest 1d ago
Historically, spies aren't some "trained from birth" experts. A ton of spies are just random people who are easy to approach through some means (in this case, shared nationality) and then can be convinced to work for you when they're already in a position to provide you info. They're absolutely still spies.
86
18
u/Moral-Relativity 1d ago
You all know that the nationality of the spy is not necessarily the same as the country he was spying for right? Assuming he was an asset of course.
15
u/dmcnaughton1 1d ago
ChatGPT, how do I do a corporate espionage?
3
53
u/chdo 1d ago
Every industry leading company has to deal with this sort of thing. I work in education, and we have to protect against all sorts of attempts to gain access to our systems from China and the Middle East.
26
u/ThatsALovelyShirt 1d ago
I discovered we had a corporate spy at our dental device company of all places a while back. They weren't a very good spy though, since they sucked at their job and got fired pretty quickly.
11
u/QuasiRandomName 1d ago edited 1d ago
Do they simply fire them? No criminal charges whatsoever?
PS: Oh, they charged the guy from the OP actually.
1
7
u/FomalhautCalliclea ▪️Euphemistically less Agnostic 1d ago
Chances are the only leaks they get is something like that but for Astra:
88
u/pbagel2 1d ago
It's really annoying not being able to trust a single word that comes out of the DoJ.
8
u/greentrillion 1d ago
Yeah it was probably an Israeli.
19
u/Plusaziz 1d ago
It’s definitely a Saudi
30
u/greentrillion 1d ago
You are right, Israel doesn't need to spy, Sam Altman sends them a report daily.
2
u/Akashictruth . 19h ago
If he was Israeli it wouldn't have even been reported- forget DOJ getting involved🤣
-5
u/oopiex 1d ago
wow it must really suck living your life thinking non-stop about israel. unable to engage in any discussion without mentioning it even once.
-6
u/Smile_Clown 1d ago
Yes because every single person working there swears allegiance and changes ideological stances and lies and misleads based on the letter in the WH.
Just for the record, those at the top are most figureheads.
-8
u/Future-Bandicoot-823 1d ago
If you lived in a time when you thought you could trust the doj...
you were in fact drinking the coolaid, enjoying the propaganda, and being wildly misled lol
8
u/pbagel2 1d ago edited 1d ago
Keep posting in r/UFOs man
*Wow you blocked me over that? What kind of fragile bubble do you seclude yourself to if you can't handle someone making fun of you for posting about UFO conspiracy theories?
-8
9
u/ImAPonderer2 1d ago
With so many international PhD students in American programs, the AI companies are now crawling with international spies/cooperators … as long as they aren’t working specifically on a DoD contract they are probably not required to have government background checks
2
u/ImAPonderer2 1d ago
Why: AI is already being used extensively on the battlefield and multiple countries need to consider a homegrown AI industry to survive future wars
1
1d ago
[deleted]
1
u/ImAPonderer2 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think the US using AI for targeting is a labor-saving and more importantly fast use of AI in war. Some say war is all about logistics: there, AI is hypothetically a force multiplier. So there are clear immediate benefits for a military with all the latest machines / software / surveillance / etc. Also we have used machine intelligence targeting systems for many years (eg, heat-seeking) - where a major, nation-threatening war is waged, AI-enabled kill decisions are a no-brainer as a force multiplier: launch 500 drones simultaneously and see what they are able to attack in a battlefield scenario, or if the attacker lacks scruples, send them into a major city.
If you are waging a lower-tech guerilla warfare it may not matter to you, except if an AI-enabled superpower enemy spots one of your leaders and drops a bomb on his car
22
u/sunstersun 1d ago
Saudi national, but still could be a spy for any country.
Just like an American national probably isn't spying for the CIA.
4
4
u/RigaudonAS Human Work 1d ago
Ah, so it was an Israeli.
(Check where that "correspondent" was born, by the way.)
2
6
u/GoldieForMayor 1d ago
That H1b system is really paying off.
3
3
u/Common-Concentrate-2 1d ago
There have been 6 instances this year of US citizens accused of spying for foreign entities.
1
u/QuasiRandomName 1d ago
I guess we should rather discuss how they used their model to investigate this?
0
0
-1
-3
u/Aztecah 1d ago
Ah, yes, the currently very reputable DOJ of the USA.
2
u/Common-Concentrate-2 1d ago
Open AI are the ones that found the device, and traced it back to the employee. If he was here on a visa, it doesn't take much detective work.
-6
u/Snoo26837 ▪️ It's here 1d ago
Why would a Saudi national spy on OpenAI??
20
u/aKaizuh 1d ago
Not spying on leading labs would be a mistake, everyone, even our allies, want this power to themselves.
1
u/141_1337 ▪️e/acc | AGI: ~2030 | ASI: ~2040 | FALGSC: ~2050 | :illuminati: 1d ago
At the same time this administration loves to play cover for Russia and China so this isn't exactly clean cut (look at the recent claims by Cheeto Benito that Russia and China are totally, pinky swear, on my mama, not helping Iran target our soldiers in the middle east... contrary to literally the mountain of evidence that they are in fact doing that)
1
-1
u/Scary-Difficulty-977 1d ago
Even if they got it, how would they use it? They don't have the compute or the AI engineers. They can't even beat the houthis with all that US equipment.
11
u/Current-Function-729 1d ago
KSA have significant investments at stake, if nothing else.
Could be working for someone else.
24
u/Tricky_Rule_4565 1d ago
Are you really asking that?
9
u/draft_final_final 1d ago
I think the shocking part is the saudis would make this much effort as opposed to just ordering their dogs in the White House to get the data for them.
2
6
u/SGC-UNIT-555 AGI by Tuesday 1d ago
It's a good question as Saudi Arabia has much bigger problems right now and they don't have any large AI data-centers that I'm aware of, just regular data storage ones.
9
3
3
u/MoogProg All Parabolas are Similar 1d ago
Probably because they had some means to plant the device. They did it because they could.
Don't you get it? This is Plan 9, the one that worked! - Jerry
3
2
u/Scary-Difficulty-977 1d ago
They want to be at the frontier too.
2
u/Snoo26837 ▪️ It's here 1d ago
I mean being a military efficient would be more significant rather than whatever this is.
2
1
u/halmyradov 1d ago
Even if he's not tied to the government, there would be quite a lot of people willing to buy that at a steep price. Heck, you could even make a killing on prediction markets.
Not saying everyone would do it, but there would be a lot of incentives if someone was stupid enough to do it.
-6
0
u/PlateNo4868 1d ago
OpenAI lawyers must just roll their eyes daily on the stupid things it's employees and CEO says. Like you never see this out of other tech companies, particularly if a criminal investigation is involved.
0
u/Recent_Night_3482 15h ago
Again, the fear playbook being played right in front of yall? And you eating it up like cupcakes. Fear will produce government crackdown and that’s exactly what they want. Government controlling who has the AI, and when I say government I mean the richest of the elite.
-5
u/BertMacklenF8I 1d ago
Yeah so does Saudi Arabia hate us again then?
12
4
0
u/Tricky_Rule_4565 1d ago
Typical ignorant American. Even your most trusted and loyal allies, if they recognise the power of having frontier AI in their hands, will attempt to spy on you.
The Americans did it to the British and I’m sure it happens the other way around-1
u/Baphaddon 1d ago
you don’t know shit about America 🦅 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅
2
u/Tricky_Rule_4565 1d ago
I know that you guys are genuinely the most propagandised nation.
There is no hope for you guys. The rich could shit on your floor and violate your house and you’d still vote for their puppets.0
-4
-1
-1
-6
1
54
u/DoubleGG123 1d ago
This is turning into a cold war situation.