February Newsletter: Ukraine & Pluralism

Post Date February 28, 2022
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Category ethics, newsletter, nuclear war

Dear friends,

We at GCRI are watching the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine with great concern. In addition to the grave harm being inflicted on the Ukrainian people, this invasion also constitutes a large escalation of tensions between Russia and the West and a shooting war adjacent to several NATO countries. In our judgment, this increases the risk of US-Russia or NATO-Russia nuclear war and accompanying nuclear winter. Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine who are enduring this tragic violence. For the sake …

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GCRI Statement on Pluralism in the Field of Global Catastrophic Risk

Post Date February 17, 2022
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Category statement

Global catastrophic risk is an important societal issue area. As such, it is to be expected that there will be a variety of views on it. We at GCRI believe that it is important to consider a range of views to better understand the topic of global catastrophic risk and the constructive options for addressing the risk. We are likewise interested in supporting a pluralistic field of global catastrophic risk.

Many types of pluralism can be valuable for the field of global catastrophic risk. Examples include …

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GCRI Receives $200,000 for 2022 Work on AI

Post Date December 08, 2021
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Category announcement

I am delighted to announce that GCRI has received a new $200,000 donation to fund work on AI in 2022 from Gordon Irlam. Irlam had previously made donations funding AI project work conducted in 2021, 2020, and 2019.

All of us at GCRI are grateful for this donation. We are excited to continue our work addressing AI risk.

Our projects for 2022 cover the following topics:

Continuation of prior projects: We will continue work on select projects from previous years.

Further support for the AI and global catastrophic risk talent pools: This project extends …

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2021 Annual Report

Post Date November 22, 2021
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Category planning

2021 has been a good year for GCRI. Our productivity is up relative to previous years, boosted by a growing team and rich network of outside collaborators. Our work over the past year is broadly consistent with the plans we outlined one year ago. We have adjusted well to the new realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, aided by the fact that GCRI was designed for remote collaboration from the start. Because of the pandemic, there is a sense in which no one has had a truly great …

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Summary of the 2021 Advising and Collaboration Program

Post Date November 19, 2021
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Category advising and collaboration

In May, GCRI put out an open call for people interested in seeking our advice or collaborating on projects with us. This was a continuation of our successful 2019 and 2020 Advising and Collaboration Programs. We anticipate conducting future iterations of the program in 2022 and beyond. The 2021 Program was made possible by generous support from Gordon Irlam and the Survival and Flourishing Fund.

The GCRI Advising and Collaboration Program is an opportunity for anyone interested in global catastrophic risk to get more involved in the field. There is practically no barrier to entry …

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Collaborative Publishing with GCRI

Post Date November 18, 2021
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Category publications

Global catastrophic risk is a highly complex, interdisciplinary topic. It benefits from contributions from many people with a variety of backgrounds. For this reason, GCRI emphasizes collaborative publishing. We publish extensively with outside scholars at all career points, including early-career scholars who are relatively new to the field, as well as mid-career and senior scholars at other organizations who bring complementary expertise.

This post describes our approach to collaborative publishing and documents our collaborative publications. Researchers interested in publishing with GCRI should visit our get involved page. The …

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The Ethics of Sustainability for Artificial Intelligence

Post Date November 17, 2021
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Category artificial intelligence, ethics

View the paper “The Ethics of Sustainability for Artificial Intelligence”

Access the data used in the paper. 

AI technology can have significant effects on domains associated with sustainability, such as certain aspects of human society and the natural environment. Sustainability itself is widely regarded as a good thing, including in recent initiatives on AI and sustainability. There is therefore a role for ethical analysis to clarify what is meant by sustainability and the ways in which sustainability in the context of AI might or might not …

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Artificial Intelligence Needs Environmental Ethics

Post Date November 16, 2021
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Category artificial intelligence, ethics

View the paper “Artificial Intelligence Needs Environmental Ethics”

Artificial intelligence is an interdisciplinary topic. As such, it benefits from contributions from a wide range of disciplines. This short paper calls for greater contributions from the discipline of environmental ethics and presents several types of contributions that environmental ethicists can make.

First, environmental ethicists can raise the profile of the environmental dimensions of AI. For example, discussions of the ethics of autonomous vehicles have thus far focused mainly on “trolley problem” scenarios in which the vehicle must decide …

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Common Points of Advice for Students and Early-Career Professionals Interested in Global Catastrophic Risk

Post Date November 15, 2021
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Category Uncategorized

GCRI runs a recurring Advising and Collaboration Program in which we connect with people at all career points who are interested in getting more involved in global catastrophic risk. Through that program, I have had the privilege of speaking with many people to share my experience in the field and help them find opportunities to advance their careers in global catastrophic risk. It has been an enriching experience, and I thank all of our program participants.

Many of the people in our program are students and early-career professionals. …

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Artificial Intelligence, Systemic Risks, and Sustainability

Post Date October 07, 2021
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Category artificial intelligence

View the paper “Artificial Intelligence, Systemic Risks, and Sustainability”

Artificial intelligence is increasingly a factor in a range of global catastrophic risks. This paper studies the role of AI in two closely related domains. The first is systemic risks, meaning risks involving interconnected networks, such as supply chains and critical infrastructure systems. The second is environmental sustainability, meaning risks related to the natural environment’s ability to sustain human civilization on an ongoing basis. The paper is led by Victor Galaz, Deputy Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, …

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