Exponential View
Exponential View by Azeem Azhar
🔮 Does AI present an existential risk?
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🔮 Does AI present an existential risk?

A deep dive into one of the most debated questions in AI, with co-founder and CEO of Conjecture Connor Leahy

Will AI kill us all?

As readers of Exponential View will know, I doubt it. In fact, I profoundly doubt it and largely believe the AI doom narrative is quite unhelpful.

See, for example, my essay dissecting p(doom) to understand the assertions behind existentialist arguments:

However, I’m also really interested in checking my assumptions, challenging my thinking — and helping you make up your own mind. To that end, we come to my latest conversation with a guest who thinks we are (almost) doomed. 

Connor Leahy is the co-founder and CEO of Conjecture, an AI startup working on controlling AI systems and aligning them to human values. He’s also one of the most prominent voices warning of AI existential threats. 

In this conversation, Connor and I go into…

  • How Connor perceives AI risks to humans, from the mundane to the existential.

  • Is it too late to co-evolve safeguards to manage AI risks, as we have with the Internet and cybersecurity?

  • Which technological methods could lead to developing safe AGI?

  • Are compute regulation, strict liability laws, a global kill switch, and public participation the right approaches to AI safety?

Timetamps:

00:00 Introduction

01:05 The “Pause AI” letter

07:00 Co-evolution of safeguards

10:05 The speed of change

22:01 Turning the safety agenda into action

30:30 Compute as a means for control

36:05 Practical approaches to AI safety

50:38 The promise of AI

57:58 Building safe and aligned AI

01:05:46 Hopes for the year to come


Where to find Connor:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-j-leahy/ 

X: https://twitter.com/npcollapse

Conjecture: https://www.conjecture.dev/about 

Where to find Azeem:

Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AzeemExponentially

X: https://twitter.com/azeem

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Exponential View
Exponential View by Azeem Azhar
Weekly deep dives on AI and exponential technologies from a global expert featured in The Economist, WSJ and Financial Times. Join investors, C-suite execs and global leaders and change how you think about the future.