I wouldn't be persuaded to "let the AI out" by that argument. In fact, even after reading about the AI box experiments I still can't imagine any argument that would convince me to let the AI out. As somebody not affiliated with SIAI at all, I think my somehow being persuaded would count for more evidence than, for instance Carl Shulman being persuaded. Unfortunately, because I'm not affiliated with the AI research community in general, I'm presumably not qualified to participate in an AI-box experiment.
When Eliezer was doing them, the primary qualification was being willing to put up enough money to get Eliezer to do it. (I'm not criticizing him for this - it was a clever and interesting fundraising technique; and doing it for small sums would set a bad precedent.)
Basically this: "Eliezer Yudkowsky writes and pretends he's an AI researcher but probably hasn't written so much as an Eliza bot."
While the Eliezer S. Yudkowsky site has lots of divulgation articles and his work on rationality is of indisputable value, I find myself at a loss when I want to respond to this. Which frustrates me very much.
So, to avoid this sort of situation in the future, I have to ask: What did the man, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky, actually accomplish in his own field?
Please don't downvote the hell out of me, I'm just trying to create a future reference for this sort of annoyance.