TL;DR: During a research stint at AIM the idea of a policy charity advocating for a ban or limitation of fish stocking in Canada was evaluated. Fish stocking is the practice of releasing cultured fish into natural water bodies to maintain or enhance fish populations. The idea was dropped as the probability of policy success was estimated to be merely 5% and the uncertainty is large, including doing harm with the intervention. These major uncertainties concerned key factors like fish suffering levels, re-catch rates of the stocked fish, and effects on wild populations, making it too risky to pursue.
Epistemic status
After researching this idea for about 100 hours, I am fairly certain that it is not worthwhile to pursue advocacy efforts against Salmon stocking in Canada. Do note that this is dependent on a bunch of subjective judgements, and one's risk appetite. This research was done as part of the AIM Research Program, so keep that in mind. Whilst the findings were sense checked by the AIM research team, I have limited research experience of this type. Lastly, certain findings likely shift whenever different fish-species, fish stocking amounts and practises, geographical contexts or political contexts are considered[1]. This might also change the overall conclusion, i.e. it might be a worthwhile pursuit in other contexts
Credits
Attention to this intervention came via a country report from Animal Ask on potential effective interventions in Canada. Noteworthy progress on this topic from an animal welfare perspective was first made by Rethink Priorities in 2019. I would like to thank those authors for bringing this topic to the forefront in the way they did. I would like to thank Koen van Pelt and George Bridgewater for their feedback on an earlier draft of this post. Special appreciation to Vicky Cox for excellent guidance, mentorship and frequent back and forth during the research program. Mistakes are my own.
Other introductory notes
The majority of this pos
Ethical Implications of AI in Military Operations: A Look at Project Nimbus
Recently, 'Democracy Now' highlighted Google’s involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion initiative to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli government, including military applications. Google employees have raised concerns about the use of AI in creating 'kill lists' with minimal human oversight, as well as the usage of Google Photos to identify and detain individuals. This raises ethical questions about the role of AI in warfare and surveillance.
Despite a sit-in and retaliation against those speaking against the project, there has been little visible impact on the continuation of the contract. The most recent protesters faced arrest. What does this suggest about the power of AI in the hands of governments and the efficacy of public dissent in influencing such high-stakes deployments of AI use?