Doomers used to call themselves the “AI safety community” or “AI alignment community”, but Yudkowsky recently led a campaign to strike those terms and replace them with “AI notkilleveryoneism”. Unfortunately the new term isn’t suitable and hasn’t been widely adopted (e.g. it’s not mentioned in the OP), which leaves the movement without a name its members endorse.
People are gonna use *some* name for it, though. A bunch of people are spending tens of millions of dollars per year advocating for a very significant political program! Of course people will talk about it! So unless and until doomers agree on a better name for themselves (which is properly the responsibility of the doomers, and not the responsibility of their critics) my choices are calling it “AI safety” and getting told that no, that’s inaccurate, “AI safety” now refers to a different group of people with a different political program, or else I can call it “doomers” and get told I’m being rude. I don’t want to be inaccurate or rude, but if you make me pick one of the two, then I’ll pick rude, so here we are.
If the doomers were to agree on a new name and adopt it among themselves, I would be happy to switch. (Your “AI pessimist” isn’t a terrible candidate, although if it caught on then it’d be subject to the same entryism which led Yudkowsky to abandon “AI safety”.) Until then, “doomer” remains the most descriptive word, in spite of all its problems.
my choices are calling it “AI safety” and getting told that no, that’s inaccurate, “AI safety” now refers to a different group of people with a different political program
Wait, who?
If the doomers were to agree on a new name and adopt it among themselves
Honestly I think the only hope is unilateral action, start a catchy name and see if it achieves virality.
If you want people to stop calling doomers “doomers”, you need to provide a specific alternative. Gesturing vaguely at the idea of alternatives isn’t enough. “Thou shalt not strike terms from others’ expressive vocabulary without suitable replacement.”
Doomers used to call themselves the “AI safety community” or “AI alignment community”, but Yudkowsky recently led a campaign to strike those terms and replace them with “AI notkilleveryoneism”. Unfortunately the new term isn’t suitable and hasn’t been widely adopted (e.g. it’s not mentioned in the OP), which leaves the movement without a name its members endorse.
People are gonna use *some* name for it, though. A bunch of people are spending tens of millions of dollars per year advocating for a very significant political program! Of course people will talk about it! So unless and until doomers agree on a better name for themselves (which is properly the responsibility of the doomers, and not the responsibility of their critics) my choices are calling it “AI safety” and getting told that no, that’s inaccurate, “AI safety” now refers to a different group of people with a different political program, or else I can call it “doomers” and get told I’m being rude. I don’t want to be inaccurate or rude, but if you make me pick one of the two, then I’ll pick rude, so here we are.
If the doomers were to agree on a new name and adopt it among themselves, I would be happy to switch. (Your “AI pessimist” isn’t a terrible candidate, although if it caught on then it’d be subject to the same entryism which led Yudkowsky to abandon “AI safety”.) Until then, “doomer” remains the most descriptive word, in spite of all its problems.
Wait, who?
Honestly I think the only hope is unilateral action, start a catchy name and see if it achieves virality.
Yudkowsky says it’s now “short-term publishable, fundable, ‘relatable’ topics affiliated with academic-left handwringing”
I assume this means, like, Timnit Gebru and friends.
Yudkowsky is wrong then, that’s what usually people refer to as AI ethics.