turchin comments on Room For More Funding In AI Safety Is Highly Uncertain - Less Wrong

12 Post author: Evan_Gaensbauer 12 May 2016 01:57PM

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Comment author: Algon 13 May 2016 09:26:23PM 0 points [-]

I wonder if MIRI's General Staff or Advisors deal with issues like this.

Your last point was interesting. I tried making a few, narrow comparisons with other fields that are important to people emotionally and physically i.e. cancer research and poverty charities. Upon a cursory glance, things like quacks, deceit and falsification seem present in these areas. So I suppose stuff like that's possible in AI safety.

Though I guess the people involved in AI safety would try much harder to lock out people like that or publicly challange people who have no clue what they're saying. However, its possible that some group might emerge that promotes shaky ideas which gain traction.

Though I think the scrutiny of those in the field and their judgements would cut down things like that.

Comment author: turchin 13 May 2016 10:55:23PM 0 points [-]

By the way if OpenAI were suggested before Musk, it would likely be regarded as such shaky idea.

Comment author: AlexMennen 14 May 2016 12:13:57AM 1 point [-]

Many people do regard OpenAI as a shaky idea.

Comment author: Evan_Gaensbauer 14 May 2016 06:55:40AM 0 points [-]

Do you mean the whole field of AI would regard OpenAI as a shaky idea before Musk, or just safety-conscious AI researchers?

Comment author: turchin 14 May 2016 09:21:58PM 1 point [-]

I was speaking about safety researchers.

Comment author: Evan_Gaensbauer 16 May 2016 12:29:45PM 0 points [-]

In that case, yeah, it's still shaky, albeit less so than if Musk wasn't involved.