Noticing good stuff labs do, not just criticizing them, is often helpful. I wish you thought of this work more as “evaluation” than “criticism.”
It’s often important for evaluation to be quite truth-tracking. Criticism isn’t obviously good by default.
Edit:
3. I’m pretty sure OP likes good criticism of the labs; no comment on how OP is perceived. And I think I don’t understand your “good judgment” point. Feedback I’ve gotten on AI Lab Watch from senior AI safety people has been overwhelmingly positive, and of course there’s a selection effect in what I hear, but I’m quite sure most of them support such efforts.
4. Conjecture (not exclusively) has done things that frustrated me, including in dimensions like being “‘unilateralist,’ ‘not serious,’ and ‘untrustworthy.’” I think most criticism of Conjecture-related advocacy is legitimate and not just because people are opposed to criticizing labs.
5. I do agree on “soft power” and some of “jobs.” People often don’t criticize the labs publicly because they’re worried about negative effects on them, their org, or people associated with them.
Agreed— my main point here is that the marketplace of ideas undervalues criticism.
I think one perspective could be “we should all just aim to do objective truth-seeking”, and as stated I agree with it.
The main issue with that frame, imo, is that it’s very easy to forget that the epistemic environment can be tilted in favor of certain perspectives.
EG I think it can be useful for “objective truth-seeking efforts” to be aware of some of the culture/status games that underincentivize criticism of labs & amplify lab-friendly perspectives.
RE 3:
Good to hear that responses have been positive to lab watch. My impression is that this is a mix of: (a) lab watch doesn’t really threaten the interests of labs (especially Anthropic, which is currently winning & currently the favorite lab among senior AIS ppl), (b) the tides have been shifting somewhat and it is genuinely less taboo to criticize labs than a year ago, and (c) EAs respond more positively to criticism that feels more detailed/nuanced (look I have these 10 categories, let’s rate the labs on each dimension) than criticisms that are more about metastrategy (e.g., challenging the entire RSP frame or advocating for policymaker outreach).
RE 4: I haven’t heard anything about Conjecture that I’ve found particularly concerning. Would be interested in you clarifying (either here or via DM) what you’ve heard. (And clarification note that my original point was less “Conjecture hasn’t done anything wrong” and more “I suspect Conjecture will be more heavily scrutinized and examined and have a disproportionate amount of optimization pressure applied against it given its clear push for things that would hurt lab interests.”)
Sorry for brevity, I’m busy right now.
Noticing good stuff labs do, not just criticizing them, is often helpful. I wish you thought of this work more as “evaluation” than “criticism.”
It’s often important for evaluation to be quite truth-tracking. Criticism isn’t obviously good by default.
Edit:
3. I’m pretty sure OP likes good criticism of the labs; no comment on how OP is perceived. And I think I don’t understand your “good judgment” point. Feedback I’ve gotten on AI Lab Watch from senior AI safety people has been overwhelmingly positive, and of course there’s a selection effect in what I hear, but I’m quite sure most of them support such efforts.
4. Conjecture (not exclusively) has done things that frustrated me, including in dimensions like being “‘unilateralist,’ ‘not serious,’ and ‘untrustworthy.’” I think most criticism of Conjecture-related advocacy is legitimate and not just because people are opposed to criticizing labs.
5. I do agree on “soft power” and some of “jobs.” People often don’t criticize the labs publicly because they’re worried about negative effects on them, their org, or people associated with them.
RE 1& 2:
Agreed— my main point here is that the marketplace of ideas undervalues criticism.
I think one perspective could be “we should all just aim to do objective truth-seeking”, and as stated I agree with it.
The main issue with that frame, imo, is that it’s very easy to forget that the epistemic environment can be tilted in favor of certain perspectives.
EG I think it can be useful for “objective truth-seeking efforts” to be aware of some of the culture/status games that underincentivize criticism of labs & amplify lab-friendly perspectives.
RE 3:
Good to hear that responses have been positive to lab watch. My impression is that this is a mix of: (a) lab watch doesn’t really threaten the interests of labs (especially Anthropic, which is currently winning & currently the favorite lab among senior AIS ppl), (b) the tides have been shifting somewhat and it is genuinely less taboo to criticize labs than a year ago, and (c) EAs respond more positively to criticism that feels more detailed/nuanced (look I have these 10 categories, let’s rate the labs on each dimension) than criticisms that are more about metastrategy (e.g., challenging the entire RSP frame or advocating for policymaker outreach).
RE 4: I haven’t heard anything about Conjecture that I’ve found particularly concerning. Would be interested in you clarifying (either here or via DM) what you’ve heard. (And clarification note that my original point was less “Conjecture hasn’t done anything wrong” and more “I suspect Conjecture will be more heavily scrutinized and examined and have a disproportionate amount of optimization pressure applied against it given its clear push for things that would hurt lab interests.”)