The Download: tricking LLMs, and reviving geothermal plants

Researchers have found a fundamental flaw in how large language models (LLMs, AI systems trained on massive amounts of text to generate responses) identify who or what is giving them instructions, making them impossible to fully secure against attacks. By exploiting this flaw, the researchers were able to trick popular LLMs into revealing harmful information they were trained not to provide, such as instructions for synthesizing cocaine or sabotaging aircraft navigation systems.