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Something weird is happening with LLMs and chess

(dynomight.substack.com)
688 points crescit_eundo | 1 comments | 14 Nov 24 17:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.287s | source
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codeflo ◴[15 Nov 24 10:52 UTC] No.42145710[source]▶
At this point, we have to assume anything that becomes a published benchmark is specifically targeted during training. That's not something specific to LLMs or OpenAI. Compiler companies have done the same thing for decades, specifically detecting common benchmark programs and inserting hand-crafted optimizations. Similarly, the shader compilers in GPU drivers have special cases for common games and benchmarks.
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darkerside ◴[15 Nov 24 12:21 UTC] No.42146244[source]▶
VW got in a lot of trouble for this
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sigmoid10 ◴[15 Nov 24 13:08 UTC] No.42146560[source]▶
Apples and oranges. VW actually cheated on regulatory testing to bypass legal requirements. So to be comparable, the government would first need to pass laws where e.g. only compilers that pass a certain benchmark are allowed to be used for purchasable products and then the developers would need to manipulate behaviour during those benchmarks.
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0xFF0123 ◴[15 Nov 24 13:32 UTC] No.42146749[source]▶
The only difference is the legality. From an integrity point of view it's basically the same
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Thorrez ◴[15 Nov 24 13:47 UTC] No.42146884[source]▶
I think breaking a law is more unethical than not breaking a law.

Also, legality isn't the only difference in the VW case. With VW, they had a "good emissions" mode. They enabled the good emissions mode during the test, but disabled it during regular driving. It would have worked during regular driving, but they disabled it during regular driving. With compilers, there's no "good performance" mode that would work during regular usage that they're disabling during regular usage.

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Lalabadie ◴[15 Nov 24 13:55 UTC] No.42146959[source]▶
> I think breaking a law is more unethical than not breaking a law.

It sounds like a mismatch of definition, but I doubt you're ambivalent about a behavior right until the moment it becomes illegal, after which you think it unethical. Law is the codification and enforcement of a social contract, not the creation of it.

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1. mbrock ◴[15 Nov 24 16:02 UTC] No.42148090[source]▶
But following the law is itself a load bearing aspect of the social contract. Violating building codes, for example, might not cause immediate harm if it's competent but unusual, yet it's important that people follow it just because you don't want arbitrariness in matters of safety. The objective ruleset itself is a value beyond the rules themselves, if the rules are sensible and in accordance with deeper values, which of course they sometimes aren't, in which case we value civil disobedience and activism.