Debating the existential risk of AI, with Connor Leahy

Will AI kill us all? I doubt it. In fact, I profoundly doubt it and largely believe the AI doom narrative is quite unhelpful. However, I’m also really interested in checking my assumptions, challenging my thinking — and helping you make up your own mind. To that end, we come to my latest conversation with a guest who thinks we are (almost) doomed.  Connor Leahy is the co-founder and CEO of Conjecture, an AI startup working on controlling AI systems and aligning them to human values. He’s also one of the most prominent voices warning of AI existential threats. In this conversation, Connor and I discuss: 00:00 Introduction 01:05 The pause AI letter 07:00 Co-evolution of safeguards 10:05 The speed of change 22:01 Turning the safety agenda into action 30:30 Compute as a means for control 36:05 Practical approaches to AI safety 50:38 The promise of AI 57:58 Building safe and aligned AI 01:05:46 Hopes for the year to come Where to find Connor: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-j-leahy/ X: https://twitter.com/npcollapse Conjecture: https://www.conjecture.dev/about Where to find Azeem: Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com and https://www.exponentialview.co LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AzeemExponentially X: https://twitter.com/azeem