Students asked to defend AGI danger update in favor of AGI riskiness

lukeprog

In the Spring semester of 2011, I decided to see how effectively I could communicate the idea of a threat from AGI to my undergraduate classes. I spent three sessions on this for each of my two classes. My goal was to convince my students that all of us are going to be killed by an artificial intelligence. My strategy was to induce the students to come up with the ideas themselves. I gave out a survey before and after. An analysis of the survey responses indicates that the students underwent a statistically significant shift in their reported attitudes. After the three sessions, students reported believing that AGI would have a larger impact1 and also a worse impact2 than they originally reported believing.

Not a surprising result, perhaps, but the details of how Geoff taught AGI danger and the reactions of his students are quite interesting.

From Geoff Anders of Leverage Research:

In the Spring semester of 2011, I decided to see how effectively I could communicate the idea of a threat from AGI to my undergraduate classes. I spent three sessions on this for each of my two classes. My goal was to convince my students that all of us are going to be killed by an artificial intelligence. My strategy was to induce the students to come up with the ideas themselves. I gave out a survey before and after. An analysis of the survey responses indicates that the students underwent a statistically significant shift in their reported attitudes. After the three sessions, students reported believing that AGI would have a larger impact1 and also a worse impact2 than they originally reported believing.

Not a surprising result, perhaps, but the details of how Geoff taught AGI danger and the reactions of his students are quite interesting.

What would you want to do with the control groups? Teach them that AGI won't destroy the world? Not teach them anything in particular about AI? Teach them that invading aliens will destroy the world, or that the biblical End Times are near? Any of these would yield useful information. Which one(s) do you favor?

Not teach them anything in particular about AI? Teach them that...the biblical End Times are near?

I was specifically thinking of these exact two conditions, which is why I said "groups", for they are different in kind. The aliens example is even better than the supernatural end times one.

I thought of but rejected "Teach them that AGI won't destroy the world?" when I couldn't think of how to implement that neutrally. How would one do that?

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Students asked to defend AGI danger update in favor of AGI riskiness

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Students asked to defend AGI danger update in favor of AGI riskiness

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