TLDR: I would probably go on strike demanding an AI pause.
High-schoolers, and young people in general, are facing a very unusual and stressful situation. Superhuman AI might be created sometime in the next few years. If it goes "wrong," it might kill them and the rest of humanity. If it goes "right," it might automate the entire economy.
In either case, what is the purpose of getting an education?
I am personally lucky to have been born early enough to be able to use my career to try to reduce these risks. But some people will not be lucky enough to have a career before superintelligence.
If I were a high-schooler, I might do something like the following: I would publicly announce that I am entering an indefinite school strike. I would sit outside of an important government building if there is one nearby, with something like the following message:
Superhuman AI is coming, so what am I learning for? AI might kill me before I enter the job market. If it doesn't kill me, it might automate every job. In either case, what is the purpose of my education?
Stop the race to superintelligence and give me back my future.
I would make sure to show costly signals of taking this seriously, like having conversations about AI safety with passers-by, handing out flyers, not doing leisure activities (e.g. scrolling on a phone, playing video games) while on strike (I would maybe spend most of my downtime reading paperback books related to AI risk). I would warmly welcome any fellow students who want to join the strike, encouraging them to also show those costly signals. I would be careful not to be portrayed as a lazy teenager who wants to skip school. I would engage very actively with the media and create video content about my strike. I would probably strike during school hours and go home the rest of the day, at least at the start.
If there isn't an important government building that I can go to during school hours, I might just strike in front of my school instead.
If an indefinite strike seems untenable, then I might organize timed walk-outs where my entire class walks out of class at a set time.
Of course, there are consequences to this sort of thing, and I would make sure to be mindful of what downsides this might have on my educational standing (because timelines might be long after all) and talk to my parents before doing this, and ideally get them on the same page about the danger from ASI and the moral necessity of doing something about it.
This is just the first thing that came to my mind. There are probably better strategies. Maybe focusing on creating video content is much more scalable than this sort of protesting (a combination of the two is probably the best).
TLDR: I would probably go on strike demanding an AI pause.
High-schoolers, and young people in general, are facing a very unusual and stressful situation. Superhuman AI might be created sometime in the next few years. If it goes "wrong," it might kill them and the rest of humanity. If it goes "right," it might automate the entire economy.
In either case, what is the purpose of getting an education?
I am personally lucky to have been born early enough to be able to use my career to try to reduce these risks. But some people will not be lucky enough to have a career before superintelligence.
If I were a high-schooler, I might do something like the following: I would publicly announce that I am entering an indefinite school strike. I would sit outside of an important government building if there is one nearby, with something like the following message:
I would make sure to show costly signals of taking this seriously, like having conversations about AI safety with passers-by, handing out flyers, not doing leisure activities (e.g. scrolling on a phone, playing video games) while on strike (I would maybe spend most of my downtime reading paperback books related to AI risk). I would warmly welcome any fellow students who want to join the strike, encouraging them to also show those costly signals. I would be careful not to be portrayed as a lazy teenager who wants to skip school. I would engage very actively with the media and create video content about my strike. I would probably strike during school hours and go home the rest of the day, at least at the start.
If there isn't an important government building that I can go to during school hours, I might just strike in front of my school instead.
If an indefinite strike seems untenable, then I might organize timed walk-outs where my entire class walks out of class at a set time.
Of course, there are consequences to this sort of thing, and I would make sure to be mindful of what downsides this might have on my educational standing (because timelines might be long after all) and talk to my parents before doing this, and ideally get them on the same page about the danger from ASI and the moral necessity of doing something about it.
This is just the first thing that came to my mind. There are probably better strategies. Maybe focusing on creating video content is much more scalable than this sort of protesting (a combination of the two is probably the best).