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The central hub for all of the content we have produced. Here you can browse many of our most popular content, as well as find our most recent publications.
Essentials
Essential reading
We have written a few articles that we believe all people interested in our cause areas should read. They provide a more thorough exploration than you will find on our cause area pages.
Benefits & Risks of Biotechnology
Over the past decade, progress in biotechnology has accelerated rapidly. We are poised to enter a period of dramatic change, in which the genetic modification of existing organisms -- or the creation of new ones -- will become effective, inexpensive, and pervasive.
November 14, 2018
The Risk of Nuclear Weapons
Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, humanity still has ~13,000 nuclear weapons. Some of these are hundreds of times more powerful than those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they may be able to create a decade-long nuclear winter that could kill most people on Earth. Yet the superpowers plan to invest over a trillion dollars upgrading their nuclear arsenals...
November 16, 2015
Climate Change
By 2050, the earth's population is expected to pass 9 billion. By 2100, climate models predict global temperatures will be on average 4°C warmer and sea levels will be 0.7m higher under "business as usual" conditions. The impacts of such changes have been widely studied and many will be felt within our lifetimes.
November 15, 2015
Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence
From SIRI to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly. While science fiction often portrays AI as robots with human-like characteristics, AI can encompass anything from Google's search algorithms to IBM's Watson to autonomous weapons.
November 14, 2015
Popular articles
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Here are some of the most popular posts we have written:
Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence
From SIRI to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly. While science fiction often portrays AI as robots with human-like characteristics, AI can encompass anything from Google's search algorithms to IBM's Watson to autonomous weapons.
November 14, 2015
Benefits & Risks of Biotechnology
Over the past decade, progress in biotechnology has accelerated rapidly. We are poised to enter a period of dramatic change, in which the genetic modification of existing organisms -- or the creation of new ones -- will become effective, inexpensive, and pervasive.
November 14, 2018
90% of All the Scientists That Ever Lived Are Alive Today
Click here to see this page in other languages: German The following paper was written and submitted by Eric Gastfriend. […]
November 5, 2015
Existential Risk
Click here to see this page in other languages: Chinese French German Russian An existential risk is any risk that […]
November 16, 2015
The Risk of Nuclear Weapons
Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, humanity still has ~13,000 nuclear weapons. Some of these are hundreds of times more powerful than those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they may be able to create a decade-long nuclear winter that could kill most people on Earth. Yet the superpowers plan to invest over a trillion dollars upgrading their nuclear arsenals...
November 16, 2015
How Self-Driving Cars Use Probability
Even though human drivers don’t consciously think in terms of probabilities, we observe our environment and make decisions based on […]
March 13, 2017
Artificial Photosynthesis: Can We Harness the Energy of the Sun as Well as Plants?
Click here to see this page in other languages : Russian In the early 1900s, the Italian chemist Giacomo Ciamician recognized that […]
September 30, 2016
Superintelligence survey
Click here to see this page in other languages: Chinese French German Japanese Russian The Future of AI - What Do You Think? Max […]
August 15, 2017
Popular resources
Our most popular resources
Here are some of the most popular resources we have produced:
1100 Declassified U.S. Nuclear Targets
The National Security Archives recently published a declassified list of U.S. nuclear targets from 1956, which spanned 1,100 locations across Eastern Europe, Russia, China, and North Korea. The map below shows all 1,100 nuclear targets from that list, and we’ve partnered with NukeMap to demonstrate how catastrophic a nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia could be.
May 12, 2016
Accidental Nuclear War: a Timeline of Close Calls
The most devastating military threat arguably comes from a nuclear war started not intentionally but by accident or miscalculation. Accidental […]
February 23, 2016
Global AI Policy
How countries and organizations around the world are approaching the benefits and risks of AI Artificial intelligence (AI) holds great […]
December 16, 2022
Responsible Nuclear Divestment
Only 30 companies worldwide are involved in the creation of nuclear weapons, cluster munitions and/or landmines. Yet a significant number […]
June 21, 2017
Trillion Dollar Nukes
Would you spend $1.2 trillion tax dollars on nuclear weapons? How much are nuclear weapons really worth? Is upgrading the […]
October 24, 2016
AI Policy Challenges
This page is intended as an introduction to the major challenges that society faces when attempting to govern Artificial Intelligence […]
July 17, 2018
The Top Myths About Advanced AI
Common myths about advanced AI distract from fascinating true controversies where even the experts disagree.
August 7, 2016
Life 3.0
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November 22, 2021
Videos
Recent videos
Here are some of the most recent videos we have produced:
2020 Future of Life Award for saving 200 million lives from smallpox
Future of Life Institute
December 14, 2020
Articles
Recent articles
Here are the most recent articles we have written:
FLI on "A Statement on AI Risk" and Next Steps
The view that "mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such […]
May 30, 2023
FAQs about FLI’s Open Letter Calling for a Pause on Giant AI Experiments
Disclaimer: Please note that these FAQ’s have been prepared by FLI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the […]
March 31, 2023
Characterizing AI Policy using Natural Language Processing
As interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) grows across the globe, governments have focused their attention on identifying the soft and […]
December 16, 2022
An introduction to the issue of Lethal Autonomous Weapons
Some of the most advanced national military programs are beginning to implement artificial intelligence (AI) into their weapons, essentially making them 'smart'. This means these weapons will soon be making critical decisions by themselves - perhaps even deciding who lives and who dies.
November 30, 2021
Future of Life Institute Podcast
Conversations with far-sighted thinkers.
Our namesake podcast series features the FLI team in conversation with prominent researchers, policy experts, philosophers, and a range of other influential thinkers.
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Future of Life Institute Newsletter: Progress on the EU AI Act!
Welcome to the Future of Life Institute newsletter. Every month, we bring 27,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging […]
May 31, 2023
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: Don't Look Up!
Welcome to the Future of Life Institute newsletter. Every month, we bring 27,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging […]
March 31, 2023
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: Pause Giant AI Experiments!
Welcome to the Future of Life Institute newsletter. Every month, we bring 25,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging […]
March 31, 2023
Future of Life Institute February 2023 Newsletter: Progress on Autonomous Weapons!
Welcome to the Future of Life Institute newsletter. Every month, we bring 24,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging […]
March 1, 2023
More previous editions
Open letters
Add your name to the list of concerned citizens
We have written a number of open letters calling for action to be taken on our cause areas, some of which have gathered hundreds of prominent signatures. Most of these letters are still open today. Add your signature to include your name on the list of concerned citizens.
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Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.
Taylor Jones
March 22, 2023
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Open Letter Against Reckless Nuclear Escalation and Use
The abhorrent Ukraine war has the potential to escalate into an all-out NATO-Russia nuclear conflict that would be the greatest catastrophe in human history. More must be done to prevent such escalation.
Taylor Jones
October 18, 2022
Closed
Foresight in AI Regulation Open Letter
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) promises dramatic changes in our economic and social structures as well as everyday life […]
Anna Yelizarova
June 14, 2020
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Autonomous Weapons Open Letter: Global Health Community
Given our commitment to do no harm, the global health community has a long history of successful advocacy against inhumane weapons, and the World and American Medical Associations have called for bans on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Now, recent advances in artificial intelligence have brought us to the brink of a new arms race in lethal autonomous weapons.
admin
March 13, 2019
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