I want to say that I agree the transformer circuits work is great, and that I like it, and am glad I had the opportunity to read it! I still expect it was pretty harmful to publish.
Nerdsniping goes both ways: you also inspire things like the Hyena work trying to improve architectures based on components of what transformers can do.
I think indiscriminate hype and trying to do work that will be broadly attention-grabbing falls on the wrong side, likely doing net harm. Because capabilities improvements seem empirically easier than understanding them, and there’s a lot more attention/people/incentives for capabilities.
I think there are more targeted things that would be better for getting more good work to happen. Like research workshops or unconferences, where you choose who to invite, or building community with more aligned folk who are looking for interesting and alignment-relevant research directions. This would come with way less potential harm imo as a recruitment strategy.
I want to say that I agree the transformer circuits work is great, and that I like it, and am glad I had the opportunity to read it! I still expect it was pretty harmful to publish.
Nerdsniping goes both ways: you also inspire things like the Hyena work trying to improve architectures based on components of what transformers can do.
I think indiscriminate hype and trying to do work that will be broadly attention-grabbing falls on the wrong side, likely doing net harm. Because capabilities improvements seem empirically easier than understanding them, and there’s a lot more attention/people/incentives for capabilities.
I think there are more targeted things that would be better for getting more good work to happen. Like research workshops or unconferences, where you choose who to invite, or building community with more aligned folk who are looking for interesting and alignment-relevant research directions. This would come with way less potential harm imo as a recruitment strategy.