Tl;dr: when it comes to AI, we need to slow down, as fast as is safe and practical. Here’s why.

Summary

We need to slow down AI development for pragmatic and ethical reasons
Energetic public advocacy for slowing down and greater safety seems, in absence of other factors, a simple and highly effective way of reducing catastrophic risks from AI
The EA and AI safety communities have not engaged in such energetic public advocacy
I have identified several common reasons given against slowing down or advocating for a slowdown, but I give arguments against each of these reasons
Given this, I think we ought to consider speaking out more energetically and supporting those who choose to do so

Motivation

This meme is, of course, a little tongue-in-cheek, but really: if everyone tomorrow stopped building ASI, we wouldn’t need to worry about all the nightmare scenarios so many of us worry about. So enacting a pause—or, as I argue, at least pursuing a deliberate policy of slowing down—would seem to be one of the most effective and robust ways of reducing risk from AI. So why haven’t we made pausing the development of ASI and other dangerous and disruptive technologies a top priority? I’m specifically asking this of the EA and AI Safety communities, because—based on what I know of the issues and of the communities—this should be a top priority for both communities. Yet I’ve heard surprisingly little open discussion about deceleration, with those who speak out seeming to be implicitly branded as “fringe” or “radical.”

I’m sure there are many individuals in both communities who are sympathetic to the idea of a slowdown. I have friends in the AI Safety community who are at least somewhat sympathetic to the idea, or at least cognizant of the risks our breakneck pace throws our way. But by and large, both communities seem to be at best tepid about the idea, and at worst actively in opposition to it. And I think this goes against the foundational principles of both communities.

Of course, there are plenty of bad reasons people have for opposing a slowdown, and I could make a post lambasting them for how foolish they are, but I hope not to do that. I will be engaging with ideas which I have heard from respected friends and read from esteemed sources, and I hope to represent them in a sufficiently respectful and representative way. But first, some of my own reasons.

Why We Are Not Ready

Pragm

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