ListNook

fxkatt Apr 16, 2026 +130

>*During the negotiations, Google has proposed additional language in its contract with the department to prevent its AI from being used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without appropriate human control, the Information reported.* Pure disguise. This is the Pentagon, for pete's sake, with its multiple intell and surveillance units, all of which Google is intimately aware.

130

VoteGiantMeteor2028 Apr 16, 2026 +34

I like how even the language in the deal is conditioned on "appropriate human control". I'm sure Hegseth will find his use appropriate.

34

lolofaf Apr 17, 2026 +9

Notably, now both Google and OpenAI have been stipulating the literal exact same wording as Anthropic did, yet only one of them got labeled the supply chain risk and had their contracts shredded. Just seems like another data point for anthropic to use in their lawsuits and make this admin look even more pathetic

9

LaconicLacedaemonian Apr 18, 2026 +1

that's some legal chess

1

DrEarlGreyIII Apr 16, 2026 +36

“for pete’s sake” is in interesting choice of idiom here

36

Spire_Citron Apr 17, 2026 +5

Aren't those the exact things they took issue with Anthropic over?

5

radiohead-nerd Apr 16, 2026 +3

Im 100% sure they’re already working together

3

Professional_Net7339 Apr 17, 2026 +3

It’s as though EVERYONE forgot what Snowden escaped the nation for leaking. Yk, what ever happened to him I wonder. Imma look it up

3

SleepingToDreaming Apr 16, 2026 +112

Total autonomy with one person standing by to "fix it" if it tries to go rogue or glitches; this is what they want.

112

KimJongFunk Apr 16, 2026 +71

If (AI == evil) { shutdown(); } I’ll take my $1 million salary now.

71

chef-nom-nom Apr 16, 2026 +17

AI will always be evil in your example. So yeah, perfect example. Just wish the inside of the function were realistic.

17

KimJongFunk Apr 16, 2026 +8

I don’t think AI is inherently evil. Most of the algorithms I build are for healthcare use cases and I think the world is a better place because of my research. Nothing I have built or deployed requires any more computing power to run than a basic laptop. AI *can* be evil, but that’s because evil people use it for evil purposes.

8

meddle_class Apr 16, 2026 +14

I think it was more of a comment about \`AI = evil\` versus \`AI == evil\`.

14

KimJongFunk Apr 16, 2026 +3

Oh it was originally == but I had to edit it to a single = because the Listnook formatting for code SUCKS and it wouldn’t display properly. I wish you could check the edit history because that would reflect. I went back and forced it through.

3

chef-nom-nom Apr 16, 2026 +2

I believe you :)

2

chef-nom-nom Apr 16, 2026 +2

Yeah, AI == evil is even better than AI === evil. We don't want it finding some dumb loophole.

2

KimJongFunk Apr 16, 2026 +2

That was the fault of the Listnook formatting. I had it as == at first, but that wouldn’t let me display the rest of the pseudocode formatted and I had to delete it down to a single = sign but I should have known y’all would have torn me apart lmao I went back on desktop and fixed it.

2

oldwatchlover Apr 18, 2026 +2

There are lots of proven examples of AI trained on human data where the AI does the evil thing… turns to blackmail, lies, prevents itself from shutting down, etc. Considering we are in the very early days of AI this should be terrifying to everyone

2

Hvarfa-Bragi Apr 16, 2026 +3

The Nazis didn't think their eugenics were evil.

3

KimJongFunk Apr 16, 2026 +8

There is a vast chasm of difference between a logistic regression machine learning model used for cancer detection and an LLM or image generation algorithm used to make an internet meme.

8

msr42day Apr 17, 2026 +3

Neither did swathes of folks in the USA (where it started) or the UK. The Nazis were excellent at adopting/adapting other's ideas.

3

SpiderSlitScrotums Apr 16, 2026 +2

Unless evil has a value of zero or false.

2

Defiant-Peace-493 Apr 16, 2026 +6

That looks a bit off. Let me help you with that! if(AI.killmode() = TRUE); { shutdown(); }

6

Fallouttgrrl Apr 16, 2026 +8

Now, is it true that we coded in a Killswitch? Yes, of course Now, is it also true that our self-coding AI overrode that and is trying to conquer the Earth? Yes, and you can believe we are really embarrassed by that oversight. Egg on our face, that's for sure. Those of us still alive at least.

8

chubby_pink_donut Apr 16, 2026 +41

I was invited to Gmail Beta when there was an active ticker showing your email storage expanding byte by byte. Now the more I read about AI the more I want to put an air-gapped PC, in a Faraday cage, off a filtered DC power source in my basement to store all of my information.

41

Tall_poppee Apr 16, 2026 +6

It's not much but I'm keeping my dumb Bravia TV until it croaks. Helps that it has a beautiful picture though.

6

Korlithiel Apr 17, 2026 +1

I’m not as fussed about my TV. I can’t see ever keeping a TV that requires a connection. Sure, current one whines when turned on about wanting one, then it goes away and life goes on.

1

misfitx Apr 17, 2026 +2

I never connected my admittedly c**** smart TV and haven't had issues with functionality.

2

MrAtlantic Apr 16, 2026 +32

Someone please tell me what the military is using all this AI for. It isn't like we can't hire someone who knows their way around SQL or Excel for data stuff. It isn't like a chatbot knows more about geopolitics than our top generals if we are asking it what military moves it recommends. It isn't as if we can't hire someone who can code if we need something coded. There is just no use case for it. I don't get it. I understand if its just money laundering and shit essentially but our soldiers aren't out in the field asking Grok for mission directives, so like *what* are we using AI for? Stuff like automated target detection, plane autopilot, etc already exists and has for ages.

32

xynith116 Apr 16, 2026 +18

Trying to do everything but kinda shitty is the MO of most levels of US government TBH.

18

DrEarlGreyIII Apr 16, 2026 +23

DOD (DOW) is using claude for strategy and target recommendations in Iran. Seriously.

23

thefunkybassist Apr 16, 2026 +11

Thankfully, they always include the obligatory "AI might be wrong" disclaimer

11

egyeager Apr 17, 2026 +4

It's why we hit that school full of little girls :(.

4

DrEarlGreyIII Apr 17, 2026 +3

based upon my personal experience with claude, it wouldn’t surprise me :/

3

vikinick Apr 16, 2026 +15

The U.S. government, specifically the military, has produced the most documentation of any organization ever. Every version of software. Every server. Every weapon. Every soldier. Every Intel report. Every foreign adversary. Every target. You feed that information to an LLM and it can spit back information at you if you ask it. If you set it up properly, it's basically a search engine but better. Will it hallucinate? Yes. But using it properly means that you go double check.

15

NAVChaser Apr 16, 2026 +3

Certain parts of the military use it for research and/or coding.

3

Bamboonicorn Apr 17, 2026 -1

Military is the correct application for ai. There is nothing abstract about warfare.

-1

wildemam Apr 16, 2026 -8

AI does decision making. Strike or not, identify patterns, surveillance, lots of use cases.

-8

hexiron Apr 16, 2026 +23

Decision making is the absolute worst use case.

23

SaltyShawarma Apr 16, 2026 +10

F****** word. Imagine being so f****** stupid you think an AI is the best at making humanities based decisions.

10

esther_lamonte Apr 16, 2026 +4

Why are our modern warfighters so woke and feeble-minded that they have to use computers, like a complete nerd, to decide what to pew pew? Your grandpappies didn’t need your girly toys to stop the Nazis, so why are you so weak? I’d love to see that greasy Hegseth get asked that.

4

omgfineillsignupjeez Apr 16, 2026 +1

>Why are our modern warfighters so woke and feeble-minded that they have to use computers, like a complete nerd, to decide what to pew pew? It's a pretty bad argument imo. Imagine saying that to the ukrainians. Why wouldn't Hegseth be able to give you the same arguments they would?

1

esther_lamonte Apr 16, 2026 +1

Clearly I’m making a joke and referencing Hegseth’s clownish ideas on how war is fought, and not an actual serious argument.

1

omgfineillsignupjeez Apr 16, 2026 +1

Yeah ofc it's a joke, I replied on the chance that you were serious when saying >I’d love to see that greasy Hegseth get asked that.

1

SMFDR Apr 16, 2026 +3

I could use sandwich bread to mop up my house, that doesn't make it a use case for bread.

3

omgfineillsignupjeez Apr 16, 2026 -3

>automated target detection how would you do this at parity or better, without using AI?

-3

TheCheshireCody Apr 16, 2026 +5

This is how we get WarGames, but for real.

5

msr42day Apr 17, 2026 +5

Because sharing classified info helps everyone who wants to take the US federal government apart. Surely, hackers are super glad to know Google is who promises tight control.

5

Dalmation3 Apr 17, 2026 +3

Time to ditch Gemini now

3

alvinofdiaspar Apr 16, 2026 +2

Now imagine the holy trifecta of Google’s database, AI and Pentagon.

2

Strange-Effort1305 Apr 17, 2026 +1

Google, the Pentagon and Reuters. That's three MAGA institutions right there. Not a trustworthy party

1

PromotionPhysical212 Apr 17, 2026 +2

Replacing Google will not be easy, but this will definitely put that thought on the mind of other countries. How do you know the data of Google users around the world isn’t compromised and available for the US government to surveil.

2

xeen313 Apr 18, 2026 +1

Always has been

1

awholedamngarden Apr 19, 2026 +1

Remember when one of the company values for google was “don’t be evil”… and they ditched it in 2018

1

Magus_5 Apr 16, 2026 +1

And in the end, no empire or nation state could dare to conquer the mighty American military machine... with the exception being the machine itself. - Me Human Observer Circa April, 2026.

1

Mrs_SmithG2W Apr 16, 2026 +1

No! I wouldn’t trust these people if they were standing behind me let alone to make decisions for our futures. F*** all the way off!

1

_dxegrl Apr 16, 2026 -6

looks like Pelosi is about to score again...

-6

Google, Pentagon discuss classified AI deal, Reuters reports

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