Joscha Bach (who defines himself as an AI researcher/cognitive scientist) has recently been debating existential risk from AI with Connor Leahy (previous guest of the podcast), and since their conversation was quite short I wanted to continue the debate in more depth.
The resulting conversation ended up being quite long (over 3h of recording), with a lot of tangents, but I think this gives a somewhat better overview of Joscha’s views on AI risk than other similar interviews. We also discussed a lot of other topics, that you can find in the outline below.
A raw version of this interview was published on Patreon about three weeks ago. To support the channel and have access to early previews, you can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/theinsideview
Youtube: https://youtu.be/YeXHQts3xYM
Transcript: https://theinsideview.ai/joscha
Host: https://twitter.com/MichaelTrazzi
Joscha: https://twitter.com/Plinz
OUTLINE
(00:00) Intro
(00:57) Why Barbie Is Better Than Oppenheimer
(08:55) The relationship between nuclear weapons and AI x-risk
(12:51) Global warming and the limits to growth
(20:24) Joscha’s reaction to the AI Political compass memes
(23:53) On Uploads, Identity and Death
(33:06) The Endgame: Playing The Longest Possible Game Given A Superposition Of Futures
(37:31) On the evidence of delaying technology leading to better outcomes
(40:49) Humanity is in locust mode
(44:11) Scenarios in which Joscha would delay AI
(48:04) On the dangers of AI regulation
(55:34) From longtermist doomer who thinks AGI is good to 6x6 political compass
(01:00:08) Joscha believes in god in the same sense as he believes in personal selves
(01:05:45) The transition from cyanobacterium to photosynthesis as an allegory for technological revolutions
(01:17:46) What Joscha would do as Aragorn in Middle-Earth
(01:25:20) The endgame of brain computer interfaces is to liberate our minds and embody thinking molecules
(01:28:50) Transcending politics and aligning humanity
(01:35:53) On the feasibility of starting an AGI lab in 2023
(01:43:19) Why green teaming is necessary for ethics
(01:59:27) Joscha's Response to Connor Leahy on "if you don't do that, you die Joscha. You die"
(02:07:54) Aligning with the agent playing the longest game
(02:15:39) Joscha’s response to Connor on morality
(02:19:06) Caring about mindchildren and actual children equally
(02:20:54) On finding the function that generates human values
(02:28:54) Twitter And Reddit Questions: Joscha’s AGI timelines and p(doom)
(02:35:16) Why European AI regulations are bad for AI research
(02:38:13) What regulation would Joscha Bach pass as president of the US
(02:40:16) Is Open Source still beneficial today?
(02:42:26) How to make sure that AI loves humanity
(02:47:42) The movie Joscha would want to live in
(02:50:06) Closing message for the audience
