Why are so many AI researchers so worried about lethal autonomous weapons? What makes autonomous weapons so much worse than any other weapons we have today? And why is it so hard for countries to come to a consensus about autonomous weapons? Not surprisingly, the short answer is: it’s complicated. In this month’s podcast, Ariel […]
$2 million has been allocated to fund research that anticipates artificial general intelligence (AGI) and how it can be designed beneficially. The money was donated by Elon Musk to cover grants through the Future of Life Institute (FLI). Ten grants have been selected for funding. Said Tegmark, “I’m optimistic that we can create an inspiring […]
Leading AI companies and researchers take concrete action against killer robots, vowing never to develop them. Stockholm, Sweden (July 18, 2018) — After years of voicing concerns, AI leaders have, for the first time, taken concrete action against lethal autonomous weapons, signing a pledge to “neither participate in nor support the development, manufacture, trade, or […]
How are emerging technologies like artificial intelligence shaping our world and how we interact with one another? What do different demographics think about AI risk and a robot-filled future? And how can the average citizen contribute not only to the AI discussion, but AI’s development? On this month’s podcast, Ariel spoke with Charlie Oliver and […]
With the U.S. pulling out of the Iran deal and canceling (and potentially un-canceling) the summit with North Korea, nuclear weapons have been front and center in the news this month. But will these disagreements lead to a world with even more nuclear weapons? And how did the recent nuclear situations with North Korea […]
From improving medicine to better search engines to assistants that help ease busy schedules, artificial intelligence is already proving a boon to society. But just as it can be designed to help, it can be designed to harm and even to kill. Military uses of AI can also run the gamut from programs that could […]
What are the odds of a nuclear war happening this century? And how close have we been to nuclear war in the past? Few academics focus on the probability of nuclear war, but many leading voices like former US Secretary of Defense, William Perry, argue that the threat of nuclear conflict is growing. On […]
UPDATE 4-9-18: The boycott against KAIST has ended. The press release for the ending of the boycott explained: “More than 50 of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics researchers from 30 different countries have declared they would end a boycott of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea’s top […]
Is the malicious use of artificial intelligence inevitable? If the history of technological progress has taught us anything, it’s that every “beneficial” technological breakthrough can be used to cause harm. How can we keep bad actors from using otherwise beneficial AI technology to hurt others? How can we ensure that AI technology is designed […]
What does it mean to create beneficial artificial intelligence? How can we expect to align AIs with human values if humans can’t even agree on what we value? Building safe and beneficial AI involves tricky technical research problems, but it also requires input from philosophers, ethicists, and psychologists on these fundamental questions. How can we […]
AlphaZero, progress in meta-learning, the role of AI in fake news, the difficulty of developing fair machine learning — 2017 was another year of big breakthroughs and big challenges for AI researchers! To discuss this more, we invited FLI’s Richard Mallah and Chelsea Finn from UC Berkeley to join Ariel for this month’s podcast. They […]
Shared Benefit Principle: AI technologies should benefit and empower as many people as possible. Today, the combined wealth of the eight richest people in the world is greater than that of the poorest half of the global population. That is, 8 people have more than the combined wealth of 3,600,000,000 others. This is already an […]
Click here to see this page in other languages: Chinese Research Goal: The goal of AI research should be to create not undirected intelligence, but beneficial intelligence. It’s no coincidence that the first Asilomar Principle is about research. On the face of it, the Research Goal Principle may not seem as glamorous or exciting as some […]
For most of us, 2017 has been a roller coaster, from increased nuclear threats to incredible advancements in AI to crazy news cycles. But while it’s easy to be discouraged by various news stories, we at FLI find ourselves hopeful that we can still create a bright future. In this episode, the FLI team […]
Click here to see this page in other languages: Chinese Russian Human Control: Humans should choose how and whether to delegate decisions to AI systems, to accomplish human-chosen objectives. When is it okay to let a machine make a decision instead of a person? Most of us allow Google Maps to choose the best route to a […]
What does it means for technology to “get it right,” and why do tech companies ignore long-term risks in their research? How can we balance near-term and long-term AI risks? And as tech companies become increasingly powerful, how can we ensure that the public has a say in determining our collective future? To discuss how […]
We’ve accomplished a lot. FLI has only been around for a few years, but during that time, we’ve: Helped mainstream AI safety research, Funded 37 AI safety research grants, Launched multiple open letters that have brought scientists and the public together for the common cause of a beneficial future, Drafted the 23 Asilomar Principles which […]
The following policy memo was written and posted by the Stanley Foundation. Download the PDF (252K) How might a nuclear crisis play out in today’s media environment? What dynamics in this information ecosystem—with social media increasing the velocity and reach of information, disrupting journalistic models, creating potent vectors for disinformation, and changing how political leaders […]