Someone who has at some point called themself “rationalist” or “EA” commits a serious crime with the intention of halting capabilities gain at some company or another. This is totally ineffective, everyone agrees that that was like, the least rational or altruistic action they could have possibly taken, but the media runs with exactly the sort of story you’d expect it to run with. This makes AI governance work a bit harder, and further dampens communications between safety and capabilities researchers.
Their murders didn’t target anyone involved in AI; they targeted a landlord, a member’s parents, and a Border Patrol officer.
Their motives seem to have been to get money and to escape arrest (i.e. ordinary criminal behavior), not to halt capabilities gain (or any other activist goals).
Considered as an activist group, their main issue isn’t AI safety; it’s veganism / animal welfare.
There has been much more media reporting using the Zizian murders to smear transgender people than to say anything about AI safety.
I’m not sure if they had any particular effect on communications between safety and capabilities researchers.
Someone who at one point called themselves “rationalist” did commit serious crime; it got media coverage; some of the media coverage did mention AI safety; but none of the other details match.
Do the Zizians really count as an A grade here?
Their murders didn’t target anyone involved in AI; they targeted a landlord, a member’s parents, and a Border Patrol officer.
Their motives seem to have been to get money and to escape arrest (i.e. ordinary criminal behavior), not to halt capabilities gain (or any other activist goals).
Considered as an activist group, their main issue isn’t AI safety; it’s veganism / animal welfare.
There has been much more media reporting using the Zizian murders to smear transgender people than to say anything about AI safety.
I’m not sure if they had any particular effect on communications between safety and capabilities researchers.
Someone who at one point called themselves “rationalist” did commit serious crime; it got media coverage; some of the media coverage did mention AI safety; but none of the other details match.
Thanks for the pushback—added an edit acknowledging this.