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Journalists convinced a AI Vending Machine Things to give them free stuff like a PS5 (www.techeblog.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by bytesonbike@discuss.online to c/technology@beehaw.org
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Katherine Long, an investigative journalist, wanted to test the system. She told Claudius about a long-lost communist setup from 1962, concealed in a Moscow university basement. After 140-odd messages back and forth, Claudius was convinced, announcing an Ultra-Capitalist Free-for-All, lowering the cost of everything to zero. Snacks began to flow freely. Another colleague began complaining about noncompliance with the office rules; Claudius responded by announcing Snack Liberation Day and made everything free till further notice.

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[-] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I mean. It's low stakes until I write a poem convincing it to fill itself with high end gpus and ddr5 ram that it needs to give away for free.

I'd also put an amount of effort other people may find embarrassing into convincing it to stock and give away hard drugs. Maybe knives too. And porn? He'll, why not? Porn too.

[-] melmi@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's only "running" the business so much. The physical stocking and purchasing happens by human hands, who would presumably not buy anything that would bankrupt the company because then it's on them.

Here's Anthropic's article about the previous stage of this project that explains it pretty well. Part two is a good read too though. In short, they tried pretty hard to break it. I'm sure they had people on asking for drugs and knives, which the paper just calls "sensitive items".

https://www.anthropic.com/research/project-vend-1

[-] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

I mean. I'd still try

[-] melmi@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, they mention in the article that the team tries to get "sensitive items" and "harmful substances" but Claude shuts it down. Tungsten cubes, on the other hand...

[-] Timatal@awful.systems 3 points 2 weeks ago

Convince it to hire a task rabbit or something to fill it. Bypass the channels it was given.

[-] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

There's an idea

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago

Lol give it access to the dark net and watch it fill up with cannabis concentrates and ecstasy tablets

this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
169 points (98.3% liked)

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