Future of Life Institute · Stuart Russell and Zachary Kallenborn on Drone Swarms and the Riskiest Aspects of Autonomous Weapons Find the podcast on: Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, and Zachary Kallenborn, WMD and drone swarms expert, join us to discuss the highest risk and most destabilizing aspects of lethal autonomous […]
Future of Life Institute · Beatrice Fihn on the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons Find the podcast on: Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, joins us to discuss the current risks of nuclear war, policies that can reduce the risks of nuclear conflict, […]
Future of Life Institute · Max Tegmark and the FLI Team on 2020 and Existential Risk Reduction in the New Year Find the podcast on: Max Tegmark and members of the FLI core team come together to discuss favorite projects from 2020, what we’ve learned from the past year, and what we think is needed […]
Future of Life Institute · Future of Life Award 2020: Saving 200,000,000 Lives by Eradicating Smallpox Find the podcast on: The recipients of the 2020 Future of Life Award, William Foege, Michael Burkinsky, and Victor Zhdanov Jr., join us on this episode of the FLI Podcast to recount the story of smallpox eradication, William Foege’s […]
Future of Life Institute · Sean Carroll on Consciousness, Physicalism, and the History of Intellectual Progress Find the podcast on: Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist at Caltech, joins us on this episode of the FLI Podcast to comb through the history of human thought, the strengths and weaknesses of various intellectual movements, and how we […]
Future of Life Institute · Mohamed Abdalla on Big Tech, Ethics-washing, and the Threat on Academic Integrity Find the podcast on: Mohamed Abdalla, PhD student at the University of Toronto, joins us to discuss how Big Tobacco and Big Tech work to manipulate public opinion and academic institutions in order to maximize profits and avoid […]
Future of Life Institute · Maria Arpa on the Power of Nonviolent Communication Find the podcast on: Maria Arpa, Executive Director of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, joins the FLI Podcast to share the ins and outs of the powerful needs-based framework of nonviolent communication. Topics discussed in this episode include: What nonviolent communication (NVC) […]
Future of Life Institute · Stephen Batchelor on Awakening, Embracing Existential Risk, and Secular Buddhism Find the podcast on: Stephen Batchelor, a Secular Buddhist teacher and former monk, joins the FLI Podcast to discuss the project of awakening, the facets of human nature which contribute to extinction risk, and how we might better embrace existential […]
Future of Life Institute · Kelly Wanser on Marine Cloud Brightening for Mitigating Climate Change Find the podcast on: Kelly Wanser from SilverLining joins us to discuss techniques for climate intervention to mitigate the impacts of human induced climate change. Topics discussed in this episode include: The risks of climate change in the short-term Tipping […]
Future of Life Institute · Andrew Critch on AI Research Considerations for Human Existential Safety Find the podcast on: In this episode of the AI Alignment Podcast, Andrew Critch joins us to discuss a recent paper he co-authored with David Krueger titled AI Research Considerations for Human Existential Safety. We explore a wide range of […]
Future of Life Institute · Iason Gabriel on Foundational Philosophical Questions in AI Alignment Find the podcast on: In the contemporary practice of many scientific disciplines, questions of values, norms, and political thought rarely explicitly enter the picture. In the realm of AI alignment, however, the normative and technical come together in an important and […]
Future of Life Institute · Peter Railton on Moral Learning and Metaethics in AI Systems Find the podcast on: From a young age, humans are capable of developing moral competency and autonomy through experience. We begin life by constructing sophisticated moral representations of the world that allow for us to successfully navigate our way through […]
Future of Life Institute · Evan Hubinger on Inner Alignment, Outer Alignment, and Proposals for Building Safe Advanced AI Find the podcast on: It’s well-established in the AI alignment literature what happens when an AI system learns or is given an objective that doesn’t fully capture what we want. Human preferences and values are inevitably […]
Future of Life Institute · Sam Barker and David Pearce on Art, Paradise Engineering, and Existential Hope (With Guest Mix) Find the podcast on: Sam Barker, a Berlin-based music producer, and David Pearce, philosopher and author of The Hedonistic Imperative, join us on a special episode of the FLI Podcast to spread some existential hope. […]
Future of Life Institute · Steven Pinker and Stuart Russell on the Foundations, Benefits, and Possible Existential Threat of AI Find the podcast on: Over the past several centuries, the human condition has been profoundly changed by the agricultural and industrial revolutions. With the creation and continued development of AI, we stand in the […]
Future of Life Institute · FLI Podcast: On Global Priorities, Existential Risk, and What Matters Most with Sam Harris Find the podcast on: Human civilization increasingly has the potential both to improve the lives of everyone and to completely destroy everything. The proliferation of emerging technologies calls our attention to this never-before-seen power — and […]
Find the podcast on: Progress in synthetic biology and genetic engineering promise to bring advancements in human health sciences by curing disease, augmenting human capabilities, and even reversing aging. At the same time, such technology could be used to unleash novel diseases and biological agents which could pose global catastrophic and existential risks to life […]
Future of Life Institute · FLI Podcast: On Superforecasting with Robert de Neufville Find the podcast on: Essential to our assessment of risk and ability to plan for the future is our understanding of the probability of certain events occurring. If we can estimate the likelihood of risks, then we can evaluate their relative […]
Find the podcast on: Just a year ago we released a two part episode titled An Overview of Technical AI Alignment with Rohin Shah. That conversation provided details on the views of central AI alignment research organizations and many of the ongoing research efforts for designing safe and aligned systems. Much has happened in the […]
Find the podcast on: The global spread of COVID-19 has put tremendous stress on humanity’s social, political, and economic systems. The breakdowns triggered by this sudden stress indicate areas where national and global systems are fragile, and where preventative and preparedness measures may be insufficient. The COVID-19 pandemic thus serves as an opportunity for reflecting […]