by Ezra Klein, The New York Times…This is an example of “alignment risk,” the danger that what we want the systems to do and what they will actually do could diverge, and perhaps do so violently. Curbing alignment risk requires curbing the systems themselves, not just the ways we permit people to use them.
More from this author
#20 – Global polycrisis with Thomas Homer-Dixon
A discussion with a researcher who studies the way global crises intersect.
This changes everything
In a 2022 survey, A.I. experts were asked, “What probability do you put on human inability to control future advanced A.I. systems causing human extinction or similarly permanent and severe disempowerment of the human species?”
Regular old intelligence is sufficient–even lovely
Precisely twenty years ago, I published a book called “Enough” that outlined my fears about artificial intelligence and its companion technologies like advanced robotics and human genetic engineering
Climate, fiction, and the future
Artists have a long history of channeling social change into their works, shaping our cultures, societies, and institutions. When informed by science, this becomes a powerful tool for action.
Let’s imagine we knew exactly how the pandemic started
In a March Guardian editorial that similarly treated the matter of origin as an arcane sideshow, the paper emphasized expanding disease surveillance, protecting natural habitats, reforming factory farming and ramping up lab safety — and concluded that all “this, rather than the blame game, is what politicians should prioritize.”
The Great Simplification: What HS leaders need to know about the future of energy with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens, Director of the Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future, offers a valuable, insightful, and cautionary presentation on energy consumption and the alarming challenges society will face in the not-so-distant future.
Q&A with Noam Chomsky about the future of our world for the SXSW23 Wonder House
Q&A with Noam Chomsky about the Future of our world.
We asked Noam Chomsky about the future of our world, our systems of government and power and our need to come together to address the challenges of our time. The laureate professor and public intellectual shared his thoughts with UArizona College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Dean Lori Poloni-Staudinger.
The A.I. Dilemma
The challenges of AI for human culture.
Yellen warns climate change could trigger asset value losses, harming US economy
Yellen will tell a new advisory board of academics, private sector experts and non-profits there has been a five-fold increase in the annual number of billion-dollar disasters over the past five years, compared to the 1980s, even after taking into account inflation.