LessWrong?
Thu, Apr 02
Bayes' rule for computing the probability of a cause given its effect has been around for hundreds of years, with many applications to science, social science, engineering, and computing. Curiously, this mathematical theorem spawned an online subculture in the early 2000s focused on better thinking — both human and machine. That subculture, rationalism, has turned into a prominent school of thought on AI. Today we will explore its origins and current positions on where AI is headed.
We have two main in-class learning goals. By the end of lecture today you will:
- Understand the outsized influence of the rationalist community on AI technology and policy development.
- Scrutinize the validity of the existential risk argument.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute warn us that AI is Grown, Not Built in The Atlantic
Daniel Kokotajlo, Scott Alexander, Thomas Larsen, Eli Lifland, and Romeo Dean released the landmark report AI 2027 last spring.
Do This:
Writing Reflection 08
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 4/7 at 5pm.
The instructions for Project 03 have Been Released.
The project for this unit will be the creation of design patterns for artificial intelligence that summarizes your group's dialogues over the course of the next few weeks. Review the instructions that have been posted on the Project 03 page.
This project is due on 4/28 at 5pm.
This Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: Do the features of social media that you have identified uphold or violate your chosen virtues? This is the second part of the technical inquiry piece of your design pattern creation process.
Schedule your group meeting for next week. The new prompt is: Identify three virtues that are important for artificial intelligence. Refer to the CST handout and this set of Virtues in Engineering for possible virtues.