Is it a distraction? AI alignment is a huge topic, especially if the model is from an authoritarian country.
Questioning whether all this tech innovation should be shared with authoritaria regimes is a damn valid question to be asked and often as possible.
Like I said, discussing model politics have a place but bringing it up every time a model is mentioned is distracting and prevents adult discussion. It would be like if every time a company comes up, the thread gets spammed with discussion about the worst thing that company has ever done instead of discussing it in context.
For example, ChatGPT’s practical usability is regularly hobbled by alignment concerns, notably more so in 3.5 than 4. It’s a worthy topic, not a distraction and characterizing it as something other than ‘adult discussion’ is nothing more than an egocentric encoding of your specific interests into a ranking of importance you impose on others. A little humility goes a long way.
We’re here to be curious and that includes addressing misconceptions, oversights and incorrect assumptions. That all still counts as adult discussion.