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 […]
Find the podcast on: Toby Ord’s “The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity” has emerged as a new cornerstone text in the field of existential risk. The book presents the foundations and recent developments of this budding field from an accessible vantage point, providing an overview suitable for newcomers. For those already familiar […]
Find the podcast on: Lethal autonomous weapons represent the novel miniaturization and integration of modern AI and robotics technologies for military use. This emerging technology thus represents a potentially critical inflection point in the development of AI governance. Whether we allow AI to make the decision to take human life and where we draw lines […]
Find the podcast on: As with the agricultural and industrial revolutions before it, the intelligence revolution currently underway will unlock new degrees and kinds of abundance. Powerful forms of AI will likely generate never-before-seen levels of wealth, raising critical questions about its beneficiaries. Will this newfound wealth be used to provide for the common good, […]
Find the podcast on: From Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0 to Stuart Russell’s Human Compatible and Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence, much has been written and said about the long-term risks of powerful AI systems. When considering concrete actions one can take to help mitigate these risks, governance and policy related solutions become an attractive area of consideration. But […]
Find the podcast on: Our perceptions of reality are based on the physics of interactions ranging from millimeters to miles in scale. But when it comes to the very small and the very massive, our intuitions often fail us. Given the extent to which modern physics challenges our understanding of the world around us, […]