The 20th century saw unprecedented change: nuclear weapons, satellites, the rise and fall of communism, third-wave feminism, the internet, postmodernism, game theory, genetic engineering, the Big Bang theory, quantum mechanics, birth control, and more. Now imagine all of it compressed into just 10 years.

That’s the future Will MacAskill — philosopher and researcher at the Forethought Centre for AI Strategy — argues we need to prepare for in his new paper “Preparing for the intelligence explosion.” Not in the distant future, but probably in three to seven years.

These highlights are from episode #213 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we’re completely unprepared, and include:

• Rob's intro (00:00:00)
• A century of history crammed into a decade (00:00:17)
• What does a good future with AGI even look like? (00:04:48)
• AI takeover might happen anyway — should we rush to load in our values? (00:09:29)
• Lock-in is plausible where it never was before (00:14:40)
• ML researchers are feverishly working to destroy their own power (00:20:07)
• People distrust utopianism for good reason (00:24:30)
• Non-technological disruption (00:29:18)
• The 3 intelligence explosions (00:31:10)

These aren't necessarily the most important or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected]. 

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong