Hope1234

Karma: 2

I am currently a graduate student (masters in EE) at Santa Clara University studying DSP and AI. Before that, I worked as an FPGA engineer for a few years then switched professions to patent examining at the USPTO for 11 years. I started out examining in GUI (browser-based). After I gained signatory authority I was moved to Machine Learning. Over the years, I missed engineering so I decided to transition back by getting my masters.

As an examiner, a substantial number of cases felt ethically fraught. I’m joining this community to discuss my views and see how my past and current career can shape AI safety.

Hope1234 6 Jul 2026 4:00 UTC
2 points
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on: Surprising facts about the slave trade
If you are interested in this subject, Levar Burton in Roots (1977) is a great series to watch. I think I watched it in 6th grade and then rewatched it in my 20′s. It holds up to factual accounts and might be help you understand that what you are discovering isn’t a revelation in the historical analysis.

Hope1234 17 Jun 2026 3:38 UTC
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on: A frontier AI company should shut down
I really wish that this was true. I just don’t have the same faith in the general public.

Safety AI engineering is partly done in the thought of service. Service to people who don’t necessarily know what they are being protected from. Also, it is invisible by design and a thankless job because if it is done well it is seamless.

The closest example to this idea that I can think of is when the US federal government cyclically furloughs its employees for policy negotiations between house/senate/president. The federal US government is made up of people who have to take an oath to service. That service is mostly silent and unknown. The public doesn’t have an initial backlash of “look at all the vital work that stopped!” It isn’t until the problem becomes theirs. This was seen in the last year when SNAP benefits started to become impacted.
Here’s where the parallel ends. If a frontier AI company shuts down, the consumers would just go to a competitor that may be less safe. The competitor model may be slightly more sycophantic or easier to jailbreak. But that wouldn’t impact a basic human need like SNAP benefits do. There would be no need for a forced fix and the company that absorbed the market may look at safety as a low grade feature request.

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Hope1234 12 Jun 2026 5:36 UTC
1 point
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in reply to: Xylix’s comment on: Anthropic did not call for a pause on AI
A solution could be a council. Councils love making rules and setting boundaries. They also love giving a voice to everyone and can be very productive… or not (if a slowdown is needed). An established council of peers this magnitude would be seen in the telecomm community where standards are set at intervals. The telecom council can’t really stop devices being sold that are non-compliant, but they can make things dysfunctional. The FCC works with the telecom council for enforcement, but the burden of decision is moved away from the government.
To continue with LOTR, you don’t go to Treebeard, you go to the people who know the full landscape. They *could* establish a council of Elrond where they have a goal, but need to establish a path with guardrails for a set goal.

Hope1234 30 May 2026 17:59 UTC
2 points
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on: Women should be able to open things
Most of the proposed fixes in this comment thread accrue a privatized cost, available only to those who can pay it in money, infrastructure, or skill. A $10 gripper, running hot water requires electricity and water paid by the user, retained knowledge and space to store a gripper. It’s infuriating when you get a drink from a gas station on the go and you can’t open it.
This post shows a known concept of an implicit gendered tax. It can also be shown with office hvac systems being designed for male metabolic rates…making women supply an extra sweater or space heater. If interested, this topic is covered in Caroline Criado Perez’s “Invisible Women”. Would highly recommend if you want to look at other examples of how this is shown.