Abstract

AI safety is a young science. In its early history, deep and speculative questions regarding the risks of artificial superintelligence attracted the attention of basic science and philosophy, but the near-horizon focus of industry and governance, coupled with shorter safety timelines, means that applied science is now taking a bigger hand in the field's future. As the science of AI safety matures, it is critical to establish a research tradition that balances the need for foundational understanding with the demand for relevance to practical applications. We claim that “use-inspired basic research” – which grounds basic science with a clear-cut purpose – strikes a good balance between pragmatism and rigor that will ensure the solid foundations, flexibility, and utility appropriate for a problem of this scope and magnitude.

In this post, we build on the established concept of ‘safety cases’ to elevate the role of basic research in [...]

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Outline:

(00:05) Abstract

(01:43) Introduction: Applied and Basic Research in AI Safety

(05:54) Safety Cases: An Applied Science Artifact

(09:28) Use-Inspired Basic Research and Safety Case Trading Zones

(11:43) Safety Cases as Boundary Objects

(20:21) Laying the Groundwork for Trading with Basic Research

(24:01) Future Work

(24:40) Acknowledgments

The original text contained 7 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

The original text contained 1 image which was described by AI.

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First published:

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