Navigating AI Risks (NAIR) #1: Slowing Down AI

Here’s the first edition (on slowdown) of Navigating AI Risks, a newsletter on AI governance that we're launching with some colleagues.

This newsletter is mostly aimed at policymakers but I expect that it might interest some of you to keep up with the ideas that are around in AI governance. 

Here's a bullet point summary of it: 

• Open letter, signed by Y. Bengio & S. Russell. Focused on the largest language models, no effects on most AI systems. 
• Rationale: 
  • Avoid a race to the bottom
  • Let time for society to adapt (regarding white collar jobs vs incredible speed of AI development)
  • Develop basic laws and guardrails 
  • Some experts worry about existential risks from AI
  • Foreseeable misuse of AI (disinformation, large-scale hacking)
• Proposals:
  • 6 month training pause
  • Shut down
  • Conditional slowdown, i.e. slowdown as long as there are safety failures and high risks for society. 
• Difficulties:
  • Coordination is hard
  • China could benefit from it.