Personally I think that Eliezer Yudkowsky should find a different co-author since Sam Harris isn’t related to AI or AGI in any way and I am not sure how much can he contribute.
If the book was targeting AI researchers I would agree that Harris is a poor choice. On the other hand, if the goal is to reach a popular audience, you could do much worse than someone who is very well known in the mainstream media and has a proven track record of writing best selling books.
Big news for visibility: Sam Harris is preparing a book co-written with Eliezer (starting at minute 51 of podcast).
Personally I think that Eliezer Yudkowsky should find a different co-author since Sam Harris isn’t related to AI or AGI in any way and I am not sure how much can he contribute.
If the book was targeting AI researchers I would agree that Harris is a poor choice. On the other hand, if the goal is to reach a popular audience, you could do much worse than someone who is very well known in the mainstream media and has a proven track record of writing best selling books.
The friendliness problem isn’t just about AGI but morality, which is something Harris studies.