Just want to point out that even if you think the proposal of an AI pause is too unrealistic or extreme, there’s a wide range of possible public statements you could make. I think the important thing is not that all safety-minded lab employees advocate for an AI pause in particular, but that they feel comfortable honestly stating their views even if they disagree with their employer.
If a bunch of people at a frontier lab tweeted their honest opinions about AI risk and got fired shortly thereafter, I would expect that to be huge news, in a way that would outweigh the negative impact of those people not working at the lab anymore. (Huge enough that I expect they would not in fact be fired.)
I also wouldn’t want people to be peer-pressured into making statements that are more extreme than their actual views, but I think we’re pretty far from that world.
I also wouldn’t want people to be peer-pressured into making statements that are more extreme than their actual views, but I think we’re pretty far from that world.
That’s because there isn’t a norm for safety researchters to take the public stance described here. Once such a thing became a norm, peer pressure into making extreme statements, and generally threats to force them to make extreme statements, would be common.
Look at what we have now with all sorts of social justice statements.
Just want to point out that even if you think the proposal of an AI pause is too unrealistic or extreme, there’s a wide range of possible public statements you could make. I think the important thing is not that all safety-minded lab employees advocate for an AI pause in particular, but that they feel comfortable honestly stating their views even if they disagree with their employer.
If a bunch of people at a frontier lab tweeted their honest opinions about AI risk and got fired shortly thereafter, I would expect that to be huge news, in a way that would outweigh the negative impact of those people not working at the lab anymore. (Huge enough that I expect they would not in fact be fired.)
I also wouldn’t want people to be peer-pressured into making statements that are more extreme than their actual views, but I think we’re pretty far from that world.
That’s because there isn’t a norm for safety researchters to take the public stance described here. Once such a thing became a norm, peer pressure into making extreme statements, and generally threats to force them to make extreme statements, would be common.
Look at what we have now with all sorts of social justice statements.