Hacker News

points by a012 15 hours ago | 0 comments

US politics. Lot of US corps now ban Chinese models, don’t ask me why, the people in charge are just dumb fucks

Seems like a reasonable policy to me, depending on the sector at the least? Even with open weight / self-hosted models, there's no way to know if the model has been fine-tuned to contain malicious behaviour, triggered only within very specific conditions.

In fairness this doesn't warrant the way that the policy targets Chinese models specifically, but Chinese providers do fall under the broader category of entities that cannot be prosecuted by the U.S. law if such behaviour is found.

[–] zardo 14 hours ago

Are there actually any laws to break?

Alibaba (Qwen) at least has plenty of people in US offices to go arrest.

[–] mapontosevenths 15 hours ago

Executives live in a weird bubble driven largely by consulting firms. Right now those firms are spreading FUD about Chinese models.

[–] 50or05 10 hours ago

Recently it was found that Qwen was dialing back home once in a while. It cannot be proven that it does not take commands from home if it can establish connection.

[–] mapontosevenths 5 hours ago

Did you read the details of that incident? It was a nothing sandwich.

I think the root of the difference between us is that you are scared of their fascists, and I am scared of ours. Both are reasonable things, but only one of us can actually do anything about it.

With local models you decide how the firewall works. If you don't want it to internet, don't let it.

With US models you get whatever they say you do, and pay whatever they demand.

[–] cyanydeez 15 hours ago

Theyre driven bootlickers because you dont get hired if not boot shaped.