Future Matters Reader

Success without dignity: a nearcasting story of avoiding catastrophe by luck, by Holden Karnofsky. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/75CtdFj79sZrGpGiX/success-without-dignity-a-nearcasting-story-of-avoiding Note: Footnotes in the original article have been omitted.

In this post, Larks argues that the proposal to make AI firms promise to donate a large fraction of profits if they become extremely profitable will primarily benefitting the management of those firms and thereby give managers an incentive to move fast, aggravating race dynamics and in turn increasing existential risk. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ewroS7tsqhTsstJ44/a-windfall-clause-for-ceo-could-worsen-ai-race-dynamics

This is Otto Barten's summary of 'The effectiveness of AI existential risk communication to the American and Dutch public' by Alexia Georgiadis. In this paper Alexia measures changes in participants' awareness of AGI risks after consuming various media interventions. Summary: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fqXLT7NHZGsLmjH4o/paper-summary-the-effectiveness-of-ai-existential-risk Original paper: https://existentialriskobservatory.org/papers_and_reports/The_Effectiveness_of_AI_Existential_Risk_Communication_to_the_American_and_Dutch_Public.pdf Note: Some tables in the summary have been omitted in this audio version.

Carl Shulman & Elliott Thornley argue that the goal of longtermists should be to get governments to adopt global catastrophic risk policies based on standard cost-benefit analysis rather than arguments that stress the overwhelming importance of the future. https://philpapers.org/archive/SHUHMS.pdf Note: Tables, notes and references in the original article have been omitted.

The Global Priorities Institute has published a new paper summary: 'Are we living at the hinge of history?' by William MacAskill. https://globalprioritiesinstitute.org/summary-summary-longtermist-institutional-reform/ Note: Footnotes and references in the original article have been omitted.

The Global Priorities Institute has published a new paper summary: 'Longtermist institutional reform' by Tyler John & William MacAskill. https://globalprioritiesinstitute.org/summary-summary-longtermist-institutional-reform/ Note: Footnotes and references in the original article have been omitted.

The Global Priorities Institute has released Hayden Wilkinson's presentation on global priorities research. (The talk was given in mid-September last year but remained unlisted until now.) https://globalprioritiesinstitute.org/hayden-wilkinson-global-priorities-research-why-how-and-what-have-we-learned/

New rules around gain-of-function research make progress in striking a balance between reward — and catastrophic risk. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/2/1/23580528/gain-of-function-virology-covid-monkeypox-catastrophic-risk-pandemic-lab-accident

"One of two things must happen. Humanity needs to accelerate its adaptation to these technologies or a collective, enforceable decision must be made to slow the development of these technologies. Even doing both may not be enough." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/opinion/chatbots-artificial-intelligence-future-weirdness.html

Victoria Krakovna makes the point that you don't have to be a longtermist to care about AI alignment.