The podcast explores the importance of technical interventions in AI governance, such as hardware engineering and machine learning development. It discusses the role of information security in AI regulation and the development of technical standards. The chapters cover topics like machine learning applications, enhancing governance through information security, and paths to contribute to AI governance.
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Quick takeaways
Technical work in AI governance involves developing engineering solutions to boost AI governance interventions' effectiveness.
Different engineering disciplines, such as hardware and software engineering, play vital roles in enhancing AI governance and ensuring regulation compliance.
Deep dives
Technical Work in AI Governance: Boosting Interventions
Technical work in AI governance focuses on improving AI governance interventions' success by developing knowledge for decision-makers, enhancing promising interventions rather than just supporting existing ones. It involves various engineering disciplines like hardware, software, and machine learning to ensure effective coordination and regulation of AI activities.
Engineering Technical Levers for AI Coordination and Regulation
Hardware engineering could involve creating on-chip devices to monitor and enforce regulations on AI usage, such as tracking compute usage for compliance. Software and machine learning engineering play a role in auditing models for regulation compliance, while heat or electromagnetism-related engineering can help identify hidden AI infrastructure through heat and electromagnetic signatures.
Importance of Information Security and AI Development Forecasting
Information security is crucial to prevent theft or premature deployment of unsafe AI models, while AI forecasting aids in understanding future AI capabilities for effective governance planning. Additionally, technical standards development translates AI safety methods into regulations and sets cybersecurity standards for AI companies to address risks.
People who want to improve the trajectory of AI sometimes think their options for object-level work are (i) technical safety work and (ii) non-technical governance work. But that list misses things; another group of arguably promising options is technical work in AI governance, i.e. technical work that mainly boosts AI governance interventions. This post provides a brief overview of some ways to do this work—what they are, why they might be valuable, and what you can do if you’re interested. I discuss:
Engineering technical levers to make AI coordination/regulation enforceable (through hardware engineering, software/ML engineering, and heat/electromagnetism-related engineering)
Information security
Forecasting AI development
Technical standards development
Grantmaking or management to get others to do the above well