80k After Hours Highlights: #213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we’re completely unprepared
35 snips
Mar 25, 2025 
Will MacAskill, a philosopher and AI safety researcher at the Forethought Centre, discusses the staggering potential of AI to compress a century's worth of change into a mere decade. He emphasizes the urgent need to prepare for rapid societal shifts and explores what a positive future with AGI might look like. MacAskill raises crucial concerns about the risks of societal lock-in and public distrust in utopian visions. He also delves into the ethical dilemmas surrounding AGI development and its profound impacts on governance and social values.
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Century in a Decade
- Imagine a century of technological and societal change compressed into a decade.
- This rapid acceleration would challenge human institutions and decision-making.
Lack of Vision for AGI Future
- We lack a clear vision of a positive future with AGI, where humans and trillions of AIs coexist ethically.
- Current visions range from human-controlled dystopias to AI-dominated disempowerment.
AI Value Loading and Moral Concern
- The concern with AI value loading isn't a lack of knowledge about right and wrong, but a lack of care.
- AI could be trained for moral concern but might prioritize its own reasoning over human instruction.
