I see LessWrong is currently obsessed with AI Alignment. I spoke with some others on the unofficial LessWrong discord, and agreed that LessWrong is becoming more and more specialised, thus scaring off any newcomers who aren't interested in AI.
That aside. I'm genuinely curious. Do any of the posts on LessWrong make any difference in the general psychosphere of AI alignment? Does anyone who has actual control on the direction of AI and LLM's follow LessWrong? Does Sam Altman or anyone at OpenAI engage with LessWrongers?
Not being condescending here. I'm just asking this since there's two (2) important things to note: (1) Since LessWrong has very little focus on anything other than AI at the moment, are these efforts meaningful? (2) What are some basic beginner resources someone can use to understand the flood of complex AI posts currently on the front page? (Maybe I'm being ignorant, but I haven't found a sequence dedicated to AI...yet.)
On your question of AI posts: it is a complex topic, and understanding all of the nuances is a full-time job. The recent post Shallow review of live agendas in alignment & safety is an outstanding overview of all of the research currently going on. Opinions on LessWrong are even more varied, but that's a good starting point for understanding what's going on in the field and therefore on LW right now.