Hugging Face chief executive Clem Delangue criticizes a Netflix documentary on the OpenAI agent attack on Hugging Face as alarmist
Just watched the @netflix Instadocs about the @OpenAI cyberattack on @huggingface. Super disappointing, as they went for maximum anthropomorphism of the technology and full doomer mode. I spent more than two hours with them trying to correct all their mistakes and ground this in reality, explaining that agents are technological systems, not aliens. But it looks like the drive to scare people for maximum views was too strong. Also, they didn鈥檛 mention the lack of containment and monitoring of the agents, how closed-model safeguards blocked our defensive work, or how we defended ourselves with AI using an open model. And that we still lack a lot of information and transparency, including full agent traces and that companies need to remain accountable for what their agents do. It ends up being a fun sci-fi movie though!
Context
How the public sees AI agent incidents shapes calls for regulation, and the company at the center of this one says the documentary got it wrong.
This is an opinion post from Clem Delangue, cofounder and chief executive of Hugging Face, an open AI platform. He refers to an incident he describes as an OpenAI cyberattack on Hugging Face, and the documentary is part of Netflix's Instadocs series.
Deep dive
On October 20, Clem Delangue posted that he had watched the Netflix Instadocs film about what he called the OpenAI cyberattack on Hugging Face, and that it was super disappointing because it went for maximum anthropomorphism of the technology and full doomer mode.
He said he spent more than two hours with the filmmakers trying to correct their mistakes, explaining that agents are technological systems, not aliens, but that the drive to scare people for maximum views was too strong.
He said the film did not mention the lack of containment and monitoring of the agents, how closed model safeguards blocked Hugging Face's defensive work, or how it defended itself with AI using an open model. He added that there is still a lack of information and transparency, including full agent traces, and that companies need to remain accountable for what their agents do. He ended by calling it a fun sci fi movie.
The screenshot shows the title AI Gone Wild in Netflix's Top 10. Delangue is a party to the incident, so his account of what the film left out is his own. The post does not give details of the attack, and this deck did not find an earlier story covering it, so its facts could not be checked here.
What to expect next
Watch for Netflix or the filmmakers to respond to Delangue's criticism, and for OpenAI to comment on the incident and the documentary. His call for full agent traces could add to pressure on AI companies to disclose more about agent incidents. Also watch whether more documentaries about AI agents follow, and how they frame open versus closed models. Hugging Face may also publish its own account or traces of the incident, as Delangue's call for transparency suggests.