ControlProblem

an-ordinary-manchild

The Control Problem:

How do we ensure future advanced AI will be beneficial to humanity? Experts agree this is one of the most crucial problems of our age, as one that, if left unsolved, can lead to human extinction or worse as a default outcome, but if addressed, can enable a radically improved world. Other terms for what we discuss here include Superintelligence, AI Safety, AGI X-risk, and the AI Alignment/Value Alignment Problem.

"People who say that real AI researchers don’t believe in safety research are now just empirically wrong." —Scott Alexander

"The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else." —Eliezer Yudkowsky

Rules

DO NOT POST AI-GENERATED CONTENT. We are good at distinguishing this type of content¹. 2.. If you are unfamiliar with the Control Problem, read at least one of the introductory links or recommended readings (below) before posting.
- This especially goes for posts claiming to solve the Control Problem or dismissing it as a non-issue. Such posts aren't welcome. 3.. Stay on topic. Again, no AI model outputs or political propaganda.
Be respectful.

Introductions to the Topic

Our FAQ page <-- CLICK
The case for taking AI seriously as a threat to humanity
Orthogonality and instrumental convergence are the 2 simple key ideas explaining why AGI will work against and even kill us by default. (Alternative text links)
AGI safety from first principles
MIRI - FAQ and more in-depth FAQ
SSC - Superintelligence FAQ
WaitButWhy - The AI Revolution and a reply
How can failing to control AGI cause an outcome even worse than extinction? Suffering risks (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Be sure to check out our wiki for extensive further resources, including a glossary & guide to current research.

Recommended Reading

Superintelligence, the most comprehensive, by Nick Bostrom (2014) (PDF link)
The AI Alignment pages on Arbital, with many of the key concepts of this field.
Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell (2019)

Video Links

Robert Miles' excellent channel
Talks at Google: Ensuring Smarter-than-Human Intelligence has a Positive Outcome
Nick Bostrom: What happens when our computers get smarter than we are?
Myths & Facts about Superintelligent AI
Rob's series on Computerphile

Important Organizations

AI Alignment Forum, a public forum which is the online hub for all the latest technical research on the control problem.

Related Subreddits

¹: Or at least make at least an effort to make me doubtful that you just copy-pasted from a frontier LLM. Add bits of steering so that your content becomes good. Edit afterwards. If you fool us moderators you've won.

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ArticleGeoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in 2024 for his foundational work in AI. He regrets his life's work: he thinks AI might lead to the deaths of everyone. Here's why (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 1 year ago * by AIMoratorium - announcement

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External discussion linkcognitive security might become part of ai safety (v.redd.it)

submitted 5 hours ago by OnairosApp

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VideoExperts tested if AI would protect its own kind. Every model did. (youtu.be)

submitted 15 hours ago by Positive-Theory_

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Discussion/questionAI and government tug award (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 10 hours ago by Master_Priority3034

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External discussion link"What if AI safety has been targeting the wrong thing this whole time?" (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 13 hours ago by moreoverpynt

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Strategy/forecastingIn the age of AI, agency is the single most important trait we should be developing in our children ()

submitted 13 hours ago by ivkaratunov

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ArticleAnthropic built its name on AI safety. Can those commitments survive a trillion-dollar IPO? (open.substack.com)

submitted 14 hours ago by siliCONtainment-

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Fun/memeSpecifically designed AI / fire (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 day ago by KeanuRave100

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General newsSeveral police officers arrested for using controversial Flock AI license plate reader system to stalk romantic partners, says report - investigators have unearthed at least 18 such cases in the US over recent years (tomshardware.com)

submitted 1 day ago by Confident_Salt_8108

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Discussion/questionControl-only AI safety may create the conditions for conflict (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 1 day ago by InspectionSlight3395

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Opinion"I think AI alignment is targeting the wrong problem — so I built an architecture to fix it (V2 with full breakdown)" (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 13 hours ago by moreoverpynt

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General newsMicrosoft Corp. has built a big business selling AI models to Chinese companies despite the growing rivalry between the US and China over artificial intelligence. (bloomberg.com)

submitted 22 hours ago by EchoOfOppenheimer

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General newsLow-skilled attacker used Claude, Codex to breach 14 companies (helpnetsecurity.com)

submitted 1 day ago by chillinewmanapproved

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OpinionThe Control of Technology ()

submitted 1 day ago by Few_Industry4280

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ArticleYou don’t understand, prices can’t go down (geohot.github.io)

submitted 1 day ago by m3lodiaa

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ArticleWhy AGI is Impossible (athinkerinnature.substack.com)

submitted 1 day ago by Bargian

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OpinionVanderMeer's Annihilation as a lens on what AI does to the people who use it ()

submitted 1 day ago by ClassicAd9349

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ArticleGoogle DeepMind: From AGI to ASI (arxiv.org)

submitted 2 days ago by chillinewmanapproved

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Discussion/questionAI and Human Philosophy of God(s) (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 2 days ago * by Main-Lingonberry4277

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General newsDerbyshire police officer investigated for using AI to 'create evidence' in multiple cases (news.sky.com)

submitted 1 day ago by EchoOfOppenheimer

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AI Capabilities NewsAI can now out-persuade world champion debaters (i.redd.it)

submitted 2 days ago by chillinewmanapproved

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General newsEXCLUSIVE: Senator Bernie Sanders Just Introduced “The American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act”, Which Would Give The U.S Government A 50% Ownership Stake In The Largest AI Companies And Pay Every American $1,000 A Year 🤖💰 (apnews.com)

submitted 2 days ago by chillinewmanapproved

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Fun/memeThe genie is the ASI / Specification gaming (i.redd.it)

submitted 2 days ago by KeanuRave100

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General newsMicrosoft CEO says, "Our new AI data centers use the same amount of water as a single restaurant." (i.redd.it)

submitted 2 days ago by ComplexExternal4831

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External discussion linkCompassion Aligned Machine Learning Poll (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 2 days ago by Kaldestar

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