Doom Debates

The Man Who Might SOLVE AI Alignment — Dr. Steven Byrnes, AGI Safety Researcher @ Astera Institute

36 snips
Aug 1, 2025
Dr. Steven Byrnes, an AI safety researcher at the Astera Institute and a former physics postdoc at Harvard, shares his cutting-edge insights on AI alignment. He discusses his 90% probability of AI doom while arguing that true threats stem from future brain-like AGI rather than current LLMs. Byrnes explores the brain's dual subsystems and their influences on decision-making, emphasizing the necessity of integrating neuroscience into AI safety research. He critiques existing alignment approaches, warning of the risks posed by misaligned AI and the complexities surrounding human-AI interaction.
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INSIGHT

Two Main Brain Subsystems

  • The brain consists of two major subsystems: the steering brain and the learning from scratch brain.
  • The steering brain encodes innate business logic, while the learning brain learns flexibly during life through algorithms.
INSIGHT

Cerebellum as Predictive LLM

  • The cerebellum acts like a large predictive learning algorithm, akin to an LLM focusing on prediction.
  • It solves latency issues in the brain by anticipating signals 0.2 seconds ahead, improving motor control and other processes.
INSIGHT

LLMs' Limitations with Complex Knowledge

  • Large language models (LLMs) are powerful but have intrinsic limitations, especially with complex, interconnected knowledge outside their training data.
  • They struggle with long-term planning involving idiosyncratic real-world details humans can learn during life.
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