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kipling_sapling's avatar

Great post! I really appreciate this thorough writeup, which I found via your link on the recent ACX open thread. Since most readers are probably going to be (like me) individuals who neither work in AI nor have much opportunity for policy input, I wonder if you could address more fully the way an individual can contribute? I know Scott Alexander only subscribes to Claude because Anthropic seems to be the most ethical AI company (but that's apparently a low bar -- see https://futureoflife.org/document/fli-ai-safety-index-2024/ ), and I know there are a number of charities and lobbying groups that address AI safety, some of which you've linked here. But it's hard for someone like me to know if there's any point to donating to such groups rather than continuing to donate toward more tangible/immediate goals.

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Nate Sharpe's avatar

I'm glad you found it valuable, thanks so much! I also have found it difficult to determine if and where to put donations in this space - it's relatively new, highly varied, and difficult to assess impacts and outcomes. I've donated to MIRI for many years now - they've been in the space a long time and seem to be continually focused on long term existential risk and have proven able to pivot and shift approaches as the landscape has evolved over the last decade.

Outside of donations, I think contacting your political representatives is a great thing to do - we really need politicians to be thinking about these things clearly.

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