Dear friends,
The ongoing wave of anti-racism protests are prompting long-overdue conversation and action to establish a more equitable society in the US and worldwide. We at GCRI are saddened by the tragic deaths that have sparked these protests and hopeful that something good can come out of it.
For our part, we have contributed to the conversation by publishing a statement on racism. To summarize: We see moral and practical links between the problems of racism and global catastrophic risk. They are both large-scale issues whose importance becomes clear if one commits to valuing everyone equally. Racism can also be a driver of global catastrophic risk. We regret the lack of racial diversity in the field of global catastrophic risk, including in our own team. We encourage anyone interested in improving this situation to reach out to us.
Sincerely,
Seth Baum, Executive Director
Artificial Intelligence
GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum has a new paper in the journal Information titled “Medium-Term Artificial Intelligence and Society”. The paper analyzes the neglected intermediate period between near-term and long-term AI and proposes the medium-term AI hypothesis that “there is an intermediate time period in which AI technology and accompanying societal issues are important from both presentist and futurist perspectives”.
GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum reviewed Harry Collins’ book Artifictional Intelligence: Against Humanity’s Surrender to Computers in Metascience. Baum writes that the book provides a valuable perspective from the field of sociology on the prospects for advanced AI, but that it does not adequately address the ethical and societal implications of AI.
GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum also participated in an online panel discussion on “Infusing AGI With Compassion” as part of the AGI-20 Virtual Conference on June 26. The panel discussion was moderated by Ben Goertzel and also included Julia Mossbridge and Wendell Wallach.
Popular Media
GCRI Director of Communications Robert de Neufville contributed to a forum in California Magazine on “What Comes After the Pandemic?” In his contribution, he says that the pandemic shows we need to commit resources to prevent catastrophes while they seem far away, because by the time it is clear we need to act it may be too late.
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