Michael Aird is a senior research manager at Rethink Priorities, where he co-leads the Artificial Intelligence Governance and Strategy team alongside Amanda El-Dakhakhni. Before that, he conducted nuclear risk research for Rethink Priorities and longtermist macrostrategy research for Convergence Analysis, the Center on Long-Term Risk, and the Future of Humanity Institute, which is where we know each other from. Before that, he was a teacher and a stand up comedian. He previously spoke to us about impact-driven research on Episode 52.

In this episode, we talk about:

The basic case for working on existential risk from AI
How to begin figuring out what to do to reduce the risks
Threat models for the risks of advanced AI
'Theories of victory' for how the world mitigates the risks
'Intermediate goals' in AI governance
What useful (and less useful) research looks like for reducing AI x-risk
Practical advice for usefully contributing to efforts to reduce existential risk from AI
Resources for getting started and finding job openings

Key links:

Apply to be a Compute Governance Researcher or Research Assistant at Rethink Priorities (applications open until June 12, 2023)
Rethink Priority's survey on intermediate goals in AI governance
The Rethink Priorities newsletter
The Rethink Priorities tab on the Effective Altruism Forum
Some AI Governance Research Ideas compiled by Markus Anderljung & Alexis Carlier
Strategic Perspectives on Long-term AI Governance by Matthijs Maas
Michael's posts on the Effective Altruism Forum (under the username "MichaelA")
The 80,000 Hours job board

Meditation 4: Opening to Love