Future of Life Institute Podcast Future of Life Institute

Mary Robinson joins the podcast to discuss long-view leadership, risks from AI and nuclear weapons, prioritizing global problems, how to overcome barriers to international cooperation, and advice to future leaders. Learn more about Robinson's work as Chair of The Elders at https://theelders.org  

Timestamps: 

00:00 Mary's journey to presidency  

05:11 Long-view leadership 

06:55 Prioritizing global problems 

08:38 Risks from artificial intelligence 

11:55 Climate change 

15:18 Barriers to global gender equality  

16:28 Risk of nuclear war  

20:51 Advice to future leaders  

22:53 Humor in politics 

24:21 Barriers to international cooperation  

27:10 Institutions and technological change

Emilia Javorsky joins the podcast to discuss AI-driven power concentration and how we might mitigate it. We also discuss optimism, utopia, and cultural experimentation. 

Apply for our RFP here:   https://futureoflife.org/grant-program/mitigate-ai-driven-power-concentration/

Timestamps: 

00:00 Power concentration  

07:43 RFP: Mitigating AI-driven power concentration 

14:15 Open source AI  

26:50 Institutions and incentives 

35:20 Techno-optimism  

43:44 Global monoculture  

53:55 Imagining utopia

Anton Korinek joins the podcast to discuss the effects of automation on wages and labor, how we measure the complexity of tasks, the economics of an intelligence explosion, and the market structure of the AI industry. Learn more about Anton's work at https://www.korinek.com  

Timestamps: 

00:00 Automation and wages 

14:32 Complexity for people and machines 

20:31 Moravec's paradox 

26:15 Can people switch careers?  

30:57 Intelligence explosion economics 

44:08 The lump of labor fallacy  

51:40 An industry for nostalgia?  

57:16 Universal basic income  

01:09:28 Market structure in AI

Christian Ruhl joins the podcast to discuss US-China competition and the risk of war, official versus unofficial diplomacy, hotlines between countries, catastrophic biological risks, ultraviolet germicidal light, and ancient civilizational collapse. Find out more about Christian's work at https://www.founderspledge.com  

Timestamps: 

00:00 US-China competition and risk  

18:01 The security dilemma  

30:21 Official and unofficial diplomacy 

39:53 Hotlines between countries  

01:01:54 Preventing escalation after war  

01:09:58 Catastrophic biological risks  

01:20:42 Ultraviolet germicidal light 

01:25:54 Ancient civilizational collapse

Christian Nunes joins the podcast to discuss deepfakes, how they impact women in particular, how we can protect ordinary victims of deepfakes, and the current landscape of deepfake legislation. You can learn more about Christian's work at https://now.org and about the Ban Deepfakes campaign at https://bandeepfakes.org 

Timestamps:

00:00 The National Organisation for Women (NOW) 

05:37 Deepfakes and women 

10:12 Protecting ordinary victims of deepfakes 

16:06 Deepfake legislation 

23:38 Current harm from deepfakes 

30:20 Bodily autonomy as a right 

34:44 NOW's work on AI 

Here's FLI's recommended amendments to legislative proposals on deepfakes: 

https://futureoflife.org/document/recommended-amendments-to-legislative-proposals-on-deepfakes/

Dan Faggella joins the podcast to discuss whether humanity should eventually create AGI, how AI will change power dynamics between institutions, what drives AI progress, and which industries are implementing AI successfully. Find out more about Dan at https://danfaggella.com Timestamps: 00:00 Value differences in AI 12:07 Should we eventually create AGI? 28:22 What is a worthy successor? 43:19 AI changing power dynamics 59:00 Open source AI 01:05:07 What drives AI progress? 01:16:36 What limits AI progress? 01:26:31 Which industries are using AI?