LessWrong posts by zvi

“The Risk of Gradual Disempowerment from AI” by Zvi


Listen Later

The baseline scenario as AI becomes AGI becomes ASI (artificial superintelligence), if nothing more dramatic goes wrong first and even we successfully ‘solve alignment’ of AI to a given user and developer, is the ‘gradual’ disempowerment of humanity by AIs, as we voluntarily grant them more and more power in a vicious cycle, after which AIs control the future and an ever-increasing share of its real resources. It is unlikely that humans survive it for long.

This gradual disempowerment is far from the only way things could go horribly wrong. There are various other ways things could go horribly wrong earlier, faster and more dramatically, especially if we indeed fail at alignment of ASI on the first try.

Gradual disempowerment it still is a major part of the problem, including in worlds that would otherwise have survived those other threats. And I don’t know of any good [...]

---

Outline:

(01:15) We Finally Have a Good Paper

(02:30) The Phase 2 Problem

(05:02) Coordination is Hard

(07:59) Even Successful Technical Solutions Do Not Solve This

(08:58) The Six Core Claims

(14:35) Proposed Mitigations Are Insufficient

(19:58) The Social Contract Will Change

(21:07) Point of No Return

(22:51) A Shorter Summary

(24:13) Tyler Cowen Seems To Misunderstand Two Key Points

(25:53) Do You Feel in Charge?

(28:04) We Will Not By Default Meaningfully 'Own' the AIs For Long

(29:53) Collusion Has Nothing to Do With This

(32:38) If Humans Do Not Successfully Collude They Lose All Control

(34:45) The Odds Are Against Us and the Situation is Grim

---

First published:

February 5th, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jEZpfsdaX2dBD9Y6g/the-risk-of-gradual-disempowerment-from-ai

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

LessWrong posts by zviBy zvi

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

2 ratings


More shows like LessWrong posts by zvi

View all
Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,398 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,422 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,085 Listeners

Future of Life Institute Podcast by Future of Life Institute

Future of Life Institute Podcast

107 Listeners

ChinaTalk by Jordan Schneider

ChinaTalk

289 Listeners

Politix by Politix

Politix

93 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

500 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,466 Listeners

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg by Spencer Greenberg

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

130 Listeners

LessWrong (Curated & Popular) by LessWrong

LessWrong (Curated & Popular)

13 Listeners

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

131 Listeners

"Econ 102" with Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg by Turpentine

"Econ 102" with Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg

153 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

497 Listeners

LessWrong (30+ Karma) by LessWrong

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

0 Listeners

Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11) by Patrick McKenzie

Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)

133 Listeners