I’m sympathetic under some interpretations of “a ton of time,” but I think it’s still worth people’s time to spend at least ~10 hours of reading and ~10 hours of conversation getting caught up with AI governance/strategy thinking, if they want to contribute.
Arguments for this:
Some basic ideas/knowledge that the field is familiar with (e.g. on the semiconductor supply chain, antitrust law, immigration, US-China relations, how relevant governments and AI labs work, the history of international cooperation in the 20th century) seem really helpful for thinking about this stuff productively.
First-hand knowledge of how relevant governments and labs work is hard/costly to get on one’s own.
Lack of shared context makes collaboration with other researchers and funders more costly.
Even if the field doesn’t know that much and lots of papers are more advocacy pieces, people can learn from what the field does know and read the better content.
Yeah, totally, 10 hours of reading seems definitely worth it, and like, I think many hours of conversation, if only because those hours of conversation will probably just help you think through things yourself.
I also think it does make a decent amount of sense to coordinate with existing players in the field before launching new initiatives and doing big things, though I don’t think it should be a barrier before you suggest potential plans, or discuss potential directions forward.
If someone’s been following along with popular LW posts on alignment and is new to governance, I’d expect them to find the “core readings” in “weeks” 4-6 most relevant.
I’m sympathetic under some interpretations of “a ton of time,” but I think it’s still worth people’s time to spend at least ~10 hours of reading and ~10 hours of conversation getting caught up with AI governance/strategy thinking, if they want to contribute.
Arguments for this:
Some basic ideas/knowledge that the field is familiar with (e.g. on the semiconductor supply chain, antitrust law, immigration, US-China relations, how relevant governments and AI labs work, the history of international cooperation in the 20th century) seem really helpful for thinking about this stuff productively.
First-hand knowledge of how relevant governments and labs work is hard/costly to get on one’s own.
Lack of shared context makes collaboration with other researchers and funders more costly.
Even if the field doesn’t know that much and lots of papers are more advocacy pieces, people can learn from what the field does know and read the better content.
Yeah, totally, 10 hours of reading seems definitely worth it, and like, I think many hours of conversation, if only because those hours of conversation will probably just help you think through things yourself.
I also think it does make a decent amount of sense to coordinate with existing players in the field before launching new initiatives and doing big things, though I don’t think it should be a barrier before you suggest potential plans, or discuss potential directions forward.
Do you have links to stuff you think would be worthwhile for newcomers to read?
Yep! Here’s a compilation.
If someone’s been following along with popular LW posts on alignment and is new to governance, I’d expect them to find the “core readings” in “weeks” 4-6 most relevant.
Thanks!