I mean, sure, for any given X there will be some desirable properties of X which are easy to verify, and it’s usually pretty easy to outsource the creation of an X which satisfies the easy-to-verify properties. The problem is that the easy-to-verify properties do not typically include all the properties which are important to us. Ergonomics is a very typical example.
Extending to AI: sure, there will be some desirable properties of AI which are easy to verify, or properties of alignment research which are easy to verify, or properties of plans which are easy to verify, etc. And it will be easy to outsource the creation of AI/research/plans which satisfy those easy-to-verify properties. Alas, the easy-to-verify properties do not include all the properties which are important to us, or even all the properties needed to not die.
I think there are some easy-to-verify properties that would make us more likely to die if they were hard-to-verify. And therefore think “verification is easier than generation” is an important part of the overall landscape of AI risk.
I mean, sure, for any given X there will be some desirable properties of X which are easy to verify, and it’s usually pretty easy to outsource the creation of an X which satisfies the easy-to-verify properties. The problem is that the easy-to-verify properties do not typically include all the properties which are important to us. Ergonomics is a very typical example.
Extending to AI: sure, there will be some desirable properties of AI which are easy to verify, or properties of alignment research which are easy to verify, or properties of plans which are easy to verify, etc. And it will be easy to outsource the creation of AI/research/plans which satisfy those easy-to-verify properties. Alas, the easy-to-verify properties do not include all the properties which are important to us, or even all the properties needed to not die.
I think there are some easy-to-verify properties that would make us more likely to die if they were hard-to-verify. And therefore think “verification is easier than generation” is an important part of the overall landscape of AI risk.