Why do you care about AI Existential Safety?

As a researcher focused on the socio-legal and ethical impacts of AI, I believe it is our duty to ensure that AI technologies are developed and deployed in ways that respect human rights and ethical principles. This includes preventing harm and ensuring that AI systems are aligned with human values. When a few entities control powerful AI technologies, it can lead to monopolistic practices, lack of accountability, and potential misuse. Ensuring AI existential safety helps mitigate these risks and promotes a more equitable distribution of AI benefits. I advocate for inclusive and participatory governance models that incorporate diverse perspectives, including those from underrepresented communities. This ensures that AI development considers the needs and rights of all stakeholders, leading to more just and equitable outcomes. AI has the potential to drive significant societal progress, but only if it is developed responsibly.

Please give at least one example of your research interests related to AI existential safety:

By focusing on existential safety, we can guide AI development towards sustainable and beneficial outcomes, ensuring that technological advancements contribute positively to society. AI systems, if not properly regulated, could pose significant risks, including unintended consequences and malicious use. My research focusses therefore include at how we can improve our laws and regulations to better anticipate and respond to possible impact of emerging technologies and to become more agile in response ensuring that we develop and adopt AI in ways that are beneficial, trusted and trustworthy. Because its such a complex issue I am looking at ways that we can gain deeper insights about the problems,the causes but also what the barriers are for people to take the actions we need to transform our societies towards better ones where we protect people and the environment from harm and enable equitable sharing of the potential and benefits AI brings. Through speculative design and futures studies, like the AIfutures workshops I have been conducting and the explodingAI and black box policy games I have been developing but also the many panels and presentations and other opportunities I create for underrepresented stakeholders to share their perspectives and become involved and heard in the discussions and decisions that impact all of our lives. I aim to anticipate and address future challenges posed by AI. This proactive approach is crucial for developing regulations and governance frameworks that are resilient and adaptable to future technological advancements.