As an expert, he serves governments, NGOs, and donor agencies on all continents. As another example, AI could also improve our ability to understand and manipulate complex biological systems, unlocking a path to drastically improved longevity and health, and to conquering disease. Some draw a distinction between “Narrow AI” (like solving CAPTCHAs or completing Google searches) and “General AI” that could replicate most or all human capabilities, roughly at or above human level. A: Imagine, for example, that you are tasked with reducing traffic congestion in San Francisco at all costs, i.e. He is also an advisor to other startups and NGOs where he advises on AI, metaknowledge, and sustainability. With less powerful technologies such as fire, we learned to minimize risks largely by learning from mistakes. I’m fond of reading: scientific articles, comics, fiction – in general, everything that seems interesting to me. Kevin has a BSE in electrical and computer engineering and computer science from Duke University where he was also first exposed to the Effective Altruism community. Many AI systems are programmed to have goals and to attain them as effectively as possible – for example, a trading algorithm has the goal of maximizing profit. For over 20 years he has worked to help broaden the public’s understanding of science. David has a long-standing interest in the intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience. Steven Pinker and Stuart Russell April 15, 2020 AI Alignment Podcast: An Overview of Technical AI Alignment in 2018 and 2019 with Buck Shlegeris … Jessica was a 2016-17 International and Global Affairs Student Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center, and has held research positions with Harvard’s Program on Science, Technology & Society, the Institute for the Future, and the Center for Genetics and Society. Second, the longer-term implications of human or super-human artificial intelligence are dramatic, and there is no consensus on how quickly such capabilities will be developed. After graduating from Brown University in 2010 with a degree in International Relations, he worked for 3 years as General Manager of Happy Cloud, a cloud gaming tech startup. Among other projects, he works as an international advisor to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance. Before studying in Harvard Kennedy School, she worked for 3 years in the Boston Consulting Group. Here is a video highlighting our activities from our first year. How would you do it? She is chair of Harvard Effective Altruism and an impact journalist for The Huffington Post. My name is Alina Kovtun. Reach out to us with questions, comments and feedback regarding our mission and contents of the guide. Future of Life Institute (2014; Boston; 5 founders, 6 staff, 14 advisors; futureoflife.org) Seeks to mitigate the thread stemming from four existential risks they identified: climate change, nuclear weapons, biotechnology, and AI. These are systems that literally have a mind of their own, and maintaining alignment between human interests and their choices and actions will be crucial. He has studied at a Buddhist monastery in Nepal and while there he engaged in meditative retreats and practices. She co-authored the first comprehensive review of the evidence for the existence of dark matter — widely considered a turning point in the field — and she was also a co-author (along with FLI Advisory Board Member Martin Rees) of a paper that laid out a theory explaining dark matter’s role in galaxy structure and behavior. Ariel oversaw media and outreach for FLI from 2015 to 2019. With more powerful technologies such as nuclear weapons, synthetic biology and future strong artificial intelligence, planning ahead is a better strategy than learning from mistakes, so we support research and other efforts aimed at avoiding problems in the first place. BERI takes on ethical and legal responsibility, as a collaborator, for projects deemed to be important for reducing existential risk. History and Growth of Organizations, 1940-2016. FLI is based in the Boston area, and welcomes the participation of scientists, students, philanthropists, and others nearby and around the world. A: One important concern is that some autonomous systems are designed to kill or destroy for military purposes. Jessica is an AI Policy Specialist for FLI, working to develop strategies and research regarding AI policy for the short and long-term. Since the impact on humanity will be huge if it happens, it’s worthwhile to start research now on how to ensure that any impact is positive. Partner Organizations include the Future of Humanity Institute, Global Catastrophic Risk Institute, and Machine Intelligence Research Institute. Jacob holds a BA in Psychology and Russian Literature from the University of Wisconsin, where he became interested in studying the peculiarities of human nature across time and cultures. We believe it is currently unknown whether over the coming decades AI will be more like the internet (vast upside, relatively small risks), more like nuclear technologies (enormous risks relative to upside to date), or something else. She is interested in a variety of topics at the intersection of technology and psychology, such as using artificial social agents in healthcare, and the impact of emerging technologies on human social interactions and emotional well-being. They might, for example, consider our efforts to control them as being impediments to attaining their goals. David is a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University specializing in computational neuroscience. Jacob’s research interests lie in the intersection of ethics and economics. She was instrumental in the development of both the Keck and Hubble telescopes. In 2013, Max and Meia decided to create a new organization for reducing existential risk, modeled structurally after FQXi, and got Jaan and Anthony on board. By showing how a tiny subatomic speck of matter can rapidly and repeatedly double its size, it provides a mechanism for causing our Big Bang, and many of its predictions have now been experimentally confirmed. © Copyright - FLI - Future of Life Institute. Emilia cares deeply about harnessing technology to forge a brighter, equitable, and vibrant future for humanity.