I don’t think that series of events hinged on EAs/rats having leverage in the sense of wielding some flexible influence that’s 0-sum with others’ influence over the situation.
Instead, I think some people (sympathetic to EA) told a wide audience about some information that they cared about (especially the bit about withholding equity), and AI companies were then pressured by those wide audiences (including people inside of the AI companies; mostly not EAs/rats).
I think that’s a great model for having impact (and a nice asymmetric tool that’s disproportionately useful for pushing for good changes) that will remain viable in the future.
I don’t think that series of events hinged on EAs/rats having leverage in the sense of wielding some flexible influence that’s 0-sum with others’ influence over the situation.
Instead, I think some people (sympathetic to EA) told a wide audience about some information that they cared about (especially the bit about withholding equity), and AI companies were then pressured by those wide audiences (including people inside of the AI companies; mostly not EAs/rats).
I think that’s a great model for having impact (and a nice asymmetric tool that’s disproportionately useful for pushing for good changes) that will remain viable in the future.