less_raichu — LessWrong

We need a better theory of polarization, because it's failing to predict the AI debate

The punchline first: the AI issue is really not playing out the way you would expect if you know about polarization. * In public sentiment: data centers have been a very bipartisan issue for about a year (Gallup, in May: 75% opposed by D, 63% opposed by R). x-risk is...

Sep 2591

Don't call it a "pause", as that messages that a pause is much weirder than it is

Eric Schmidt on CNN: "we're not going to pause AI progress because the entire incentive system in America is not to pause." And he added, it's hard to enforce a ban across all labs. The part about inter-lab enforcement is important, but that's not the only thing he said. He...

Sep 194

"Regulatory capture" may be winning the Overton Window

Regarding the possibility the labs are making a regulatory capture attempt: for one, I agree with it. For another... other people are agreeing with it. That's weird, because suspicion of regulatory capture doesn't imply any particular policy posture. Defeating the labs became the priority. Democrats and Republicans agree about regulatory...

Sep 17-3

Intro to political messaging for AIS, or anyone wading into politics-side more

Status: brain-dump of Giridharadas The Persuaders, Ch. 5. This chapter is an extended interview with Anat Shenker-Osorio (ASO, my acronym), who has a public presence and published books in her own right. This is more theory; I don't have a direct AI application, but if you're wading into politics more,...

Sep 612

Taking AI labs to task on gimmicky social benchmarks is fair game

Status: kinda new to this kind of post, obviously it's a bit of a rant but I genuinely think the "social" benchmarks are making a deeper point than being a one-off joke. Mentorship/constructive feedback welcome. I was intrigued by ShelterBench. It measures how much affordable housing leading AI models have...

Sep 65

Why not take the AI fight to the ground?

You may have heard that many of us are working very hard to elect Alex Bores to Congress in the NY-12 Democratic primary. Voting begins today. See ny12.org to learn how to vote, and text/call your Manhattanite friends reminding them to do so. This strategy has some limitations: Alex will...

Jun 138

Voters are surprisingly open to talking about AI risk

TL;DR: Voters are now surprisingly open to talking about existential risk from AI. This seems to have changed in the last 6 months. When campaigning for AI safety-friendly politicians (e.g., Alex Bores), we should talk more about AI in general, and about AI risk in particular. This is currently actionable...

May 13117