Future of Life Institute Podcast

Future of Life Institute
Future of Life Institute Podcast

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a nonprofit working to reduce global catastrophic and existential risk from powerful technologies. In particular, FLI focuses on risks from artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, nuclear weapons and climate change. The Institute's work is made up of three main strands: grantmaking for risk reduction, educational outreach, and advocacy within the United Nations, US government and European Union institutions. FLI has become one of the world's leading voices on the governance of AI having created one of the earliest and most influential sets of governance principles: the Asilomar AI Principles.

  1. Nathan Labenz on the State of AI and Progress since GPT-4

    5 DEC · VIDEO

    Nathan Labenz on the State of AI and Progress since GPT-4

    Nathan Labenz joins the podcast to provide a comprehensive overview of AI progress since the release of GPT-4.  You can find Nathan's podcast here: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai    Timestamps:  00:00 AI progress since GPT-4   10:50 Multimodality   19:06 Low-cost models   27:58 Coding versus medicine/law   36:09 AI agents   45:29 How much are people using AI?   53:39 Open source   01:15:22 AI industry analysis   01:29:27 Are some AI models kept internal?   01:41:00 Money is not the limiting factor in AI   01:59:43 AI and biology   02:08:42 Robotics and self-driving   02:24:14 Inference-time compute   02:31:56 AI governance   02:36:29 Big-picture overview of AI progress and safety

    3h 20m
  2. Connor Leahy on Why Humanity Risks Extinction from AGI

    22 NOV · VIDEO

    Connor Leahy on Why Humanity Risks Extinction from AGI

    Connor Leahy joins the podcast to discuss the motivations of AGI corporations, how modern AI is "grown", the need for a science of intelligence, the effects of AI on work, the radical implications of superintelligence, open-source AI, and what you might be able to do about all of this.    Here's the document we discuss in the episode:    https://www.thecompendium.ai   Timestamps:  00:00 The Compendium  15:25 The motivations of AGI corps   31:17 AI is grown, not written   52:59 A science of intelligence  01:07:50 Jobs, work, and AGI   01:23:19 Superintelligence   01:37:42 Open-source AI   01:45:07 What can we do?

    1h 59m
  3. Suzy Shepherd on Imagining Superintelligence and "Writing Doom"

    8 NOV · VIDEO

    Suzy Shepherd on Imagining Superintelligence and "Writing Doom"

    Suzy Shepherd joins the podcast to discuss her new short film "Writing Doom", which deals with AI risk. We discuss how to use humor in film, how to write concisely, how filmmaking is evolving, in what ways AI is useful for filmmakers, and how we will find meaning in an increasingly automated world.    Here's Writing Doom:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfMQ7hzyFW4    Timestamps:  00:00 Writing Doom   08:23 Humor in Writing Doom  13:31 Concise writing   18:37 Getting feedback  27:02 Alternative characters  36:31 Popular video formats  46:53 AI in filmmaking 49:52 Meaning in the future

    1h 3m
  4. Andrea Miotti on a Narrow Path to Safe, Transformative AI

    25 OCT · VIDEO

    Andrea Miotti on a Narrow Path to Safe, Transformative AI

    Andrea Miotti joins the podcast to discuss "A Narrow Path" — a roadmap to safe, transformative AI. We talk about our current inability to precisely predict future AI capabilities, the dangers of self-improving and unbounded AI systems, how humanity might coordinate globally to ensure safe AI development, and what a mature science of intelligence would look like.    Here's the document we discuss in the episode:    https://www.narrowpath.co   Timestamps:  00:00 A Narrow Path  06:10 Can we predict future AI capabilities?  11:10 Risks from current AI development  17:56 The benefits of narrow AI   22:30 Against self-improving AI   28:00 Cybersecurity at AI companies   33:55 Unbounded AI   39:31 Global coordination on AI safety  49:43 Monitoring training runs   01:00:20 Benefits of cooperation   01:04:58 A science of intelligence   01:25:36 How you can help

    1h 28m
  5. Tamay Besiroglu on AI in 2030: Scaling, Automation, and AI Agents

    11 OCT · VIDEO

    Tamay Besiroglu on AI in 2030: Scaling, Automation, and AI Agents

    Tamay Besiroglu joins the podcast to discuss scaling, AI capabilities in 2030, breakthroughs in AI agents and planning, automating work, the uncertainties of investing in AI, and scaling laws for inference-time compute. Here's the report we discuss in the episode:   https://epochai.org/blog/can-ai-scaling-continue-through-2030   Timestamps:  00:00 How important is scaling?   08:03 How capable will AIs be in 2030?   18:33 AI agents, reasoning, and planning  23:39 Automating coding and mathematics   31:26 Uncertainty about investing in AI  40:34 Gap between investment and returns   45:30 Compute, software and data  51:54 Inference-time compute  01:08:49 Returns to software R&D   01:19:22 Limits to expanding compute

    1h 30m
  6. Ryan Greenblatt on AI Control, Timelines, and Slowing Down Around Human-Level AI

    27 SEPT · VIDEO

    Ryan Greenblatt on AI Control, Timelines, and Slowing Down Around Human-Level AI

    Ryan Greenblatt joins the podcast to discuss AI control, timelines, takeoff speeds, misalignment, and slowing down around human-level AI.  You can learn more about Ryan's work here: https://www.redwoodresearch.org/team/ryan-greenblatt   Timestamps:  00:00 AI control   09:35 Challenges to AI control   23:48 AI control as a bridge to alignment  26:54 Policy and coordination for AI safety  29:25 Slowing down around human-level AI  49:14 Scheming and misalignment  01:27:27 AI timelines and takeoff speeds  01:58:15 Human cognition versus AI cognition

    2h 9m
  7. Tom Barnes on How to Build a Resilient World

    12 SEPT · VIDEO

    Tom Barnes on How to Build a Resilient World

    Tom Barnes joins the podcast to discuss how much the world spends on AI capabilities versus AI safety, how governments can prepare for advanced AI, and how to build a more resilient world.    Tom's report on advanced AI: https://www.founderspledge.com/research/research-and-recommendations-advanced-artificial-intelligence    Timestamps:  00:00 Spending on safety vs capabilities  09:06 Racing dynamics - is the classic story true?   28:15 How are governments preparing for advanced AI?   49:06 US-China dialogues on AI  57:44 Coordination failures   1:04:26 Global resilience   1:13:09 Patient philanthropy   The John von Neumann biography we reference: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706577/the-man-from-the-future-by-ananyo-bhattacharya/

    1h 20m
  8. Samuel Hammond on why AI Progress is Accelerating - and how Governments Should Respond

    22 AUG · VIDEO

    Samuel Hammond on why AI Progress is Accelerating - and how Governments Should Respond

    Samuel Hammond joins the podcast to discuss whether AI progress is slowing down or speeding up, AI agents and reasoning, why superintelligence is an ideological goal, open source AI, how technical change leads to regime change, the economics of advanced AI, and much more.    Our conversation often references this essay by Samuel: https://www.secondbest.ca/p/ninety-five-theses-on-ai    Timestamps:  00:00 Is AI plateauing or accelerating?   06:55 How do we get AI agents?   16:12 Do agency and reasoning emerge?   23:57 Compute thresholds in regulation 28:59 Superintelligence as an ideological goal  37:09 General progress vs superintelligence  44:22 Meta and open source AI   49:09 Technological change and regime change  01:03:06 How will governments react to AI?   01:07:50 Will the US nationalize AGI corporations?   01:17:05 Economics of an intelligence explosion   01:31:38 AI cognition vs human cognition   01:48:03 AI and future religions  01:56:40 Is consciousness functional?   02:05:30 AI and children

    2h 16m
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4.6
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a nonprofit working to reduce global catastrophic and existential risk from powerful technologies. In particular, FLI focuses on risks from artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, nuclear weapons and climate change. The Institute's work is made up of three main strands: grantmaking for risk reduction, educational outreach, and advocacy within the United Nations, US government and European Union institutions. FLI has become one of the world's leading voices on the governance of AI having created one of the earliest and most influential sets of governance principles: the Asilomar AI Principles.

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