[red_green_yell]

It sounds like your claim is "AI is a force multiplier, therefore it is dangerous and must be regulated." Not trying to strawman - I read your comment twice and I think that's what you're saying.

By that logic Excel, the internet, calculators, and air conditioning are all force multipliers in that all of the make it easier for an expert who can make bioweapons able to do so more quickly / comfortably / easily. Obviously it wouldn't make sense to "pace" any of these technologies. Even social media or email could be considered force multiplier in that they could literally allow you to increase the number of collaborators working on supposed bioweapon. Credit cards and modern logistics force multiply your ability to purchase precursors.

Also it would be a force multiplier on the prevention/mitigation side as well. Police armed with AI to scan for suspicious precursor purchases or review security camera footage after the fact would be far more effective than before. It's not obvious that the force multiplication is greater to the bad actor or to those who oppose them.

[versteegen]

I didn't argue "must be regulated". I'm arguing AI is powerful (at achieving things, and hence has dual-use dangers). Many people won't even admit that, which is the part that really annoys me: they don't even want to have a conversation about risks because somehow AI is not actually a powerful general-purpose tool. Of course everything you said is true, though many of those things aren't very powerful. But the internet and social media and smartphones certainly have been of great utility for terrorism and child exploitation (and probably also causing many would-be-terrorists to get picked up).