Future of Life Institute Podcast

Future of Life Institute
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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. Suzy Shepherd on Imagining Superintelligence and "Writing Doom"

    NOV 8 · 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
  2. Andrea Miotti on a Narrow Path to Safe, Transformative AI

    OCT 25 · 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
  3. Tamay Besiroglu on AI in 2030: Scaling, Automation, and AI Agents

    OCT 11 · 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
  4. Ryan Greenblatt on AI Control, Timelines, and Slowing Down Around Human-Level AI

    SEP 27 · 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
  5. Tom Barnes on How to Build a Resilient World

    SEP 12 · 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
  6. Samuel Hammond on why AI Progress is Accelerating - and how Governments Should Respond

    AUG 22 · 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
  7. Anousheh Ansari on Innovation Prizes for Space, AI, Quantum Computing, and Carbon Removal

    AUG 9 · VIDEO

    Anousheh Ansari on Innovation Prizes for Space, AI, Quantum Computing, and Carbon Removal

    Anousheh Ansari joins the podcast to discuss how innovation prizes can incentivize technical innovation in space, AI, quantum computing, and carbon removal. We discuss the pros and cons of such prizes, where they work best, and how far they can scale. Learn more about Anousheh's work here: https://www.xprize.org/home   Timestamps:  00:00 Innovation prizes at XPRIZE  08:25 Deciding which prizes to create  19:00 Creating new markets  29:51 How far can prizes scale?   35:25 When are prizes successful?   46:06 100M dollar carbon removal prize  54:40 Upcoming prizes  59:52 Anousheh's time in space

    1h 3m
  8. Mary Robinson (Former President of Ireland) on Long-View Leadership

    JUL 25 · VIDEO

    Mary Robinson (Former President of Ireland) on Long-View Leadership

    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

    30 min
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4.8
out of 5
102 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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