By Stefan Schubert This blog post reports on Schubert, S.**, Caviola, L.**, Faber, N. The Psychology of Existential Risk: Moral Judgments about Human Extinction. Scientific Reports [Open Access]. It was originally posted on the University of Oxford’s Practical Ethics: Ethics in the News blog. Humanity’s ever-increasing technological powers can, if handled well, greatly improve life […]
In honor of Earth Day, FLI teamed up with Sapiens Plurum to sponsor a short fiction writing contest. This year’s prompt asked writers to describe their vision for a better future. We received hundreds of inspiring submissions, and our judges did not have an easy choice to make. But we think you’ll agree that the winning […]
The Top Takeaway from Google’s Attempt to Remove Racial Biases From AI By Jolene Creighton Algorithms don’t just decide what posts you see in your Facebook newsfeed. They make millions of life-altering decisions every day. They help decide who moves to the next stage of a job interview, who can take out a loan, and […]
This press release was originally released by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and has been lightly edited. Geneva, 26 November 2018 – Reflecting the fragile nature of multilateralism today, countries have agreed to continue their diplomatic talks on lethal autonomous weapons systems—killer robots—next year. But the discussions will continue with no clear objective and […]
“This is a whole new era where we’re moving beyond little edits on single genes to being able to write whatever we want throughout the genome.” -George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School How are scientists putting nature’s machinery to use for the good of humanity, and how could things go wrong? Biotechnology […]
By Shagun Sodhani Click here to see this page in other languages: Russian It’s been nearly two years since researchers from Google, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and OpenAI released the paper, “Concrete Problems in AI Safety,” yet it’s still one of the most important pieces on AI safety. Even after two years, it represents an excellent introduction […]
The following post was written by Jung Hyun Claire Park. One in nine people around the world do not have access to clean water. As the global population increases and climate heats up, experts fear water shortages will increase. To address this anticipated crisis, scientists are turning to a natural reserve of fresh water that […]
The following article was written by Dr. Lisbeth Gronlund and originally posted on the Union of Concerned Scientists blog. The July 2015 Iran Deal, which places strict, verified restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities, is again under attack by President Trump. This time he’s kicked responsibility over to Congress to “fix” the agreement and promised that […]
Click here to see this page in other languages : Japanese Russian Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is something of a holy grail for many artificial intelligence researchers. Today’s narrow AI systems are only capable of specific tasks — such as internet searches, driving a car, or playing a video game — but none of the systems today […]
By Eryn MacDonald and originally posted at the Union of Concerned Scientists. For the past 25 years, a series of treaties have allowed the US and Russia to greatly reduce their nuclear arsenals—from well over 10,000 each to fewer than 2,000 deployed long-range weapons each. These Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START) have enhanced US security […]
Today, 72 years after their invention, states at the United Nations formally adopted a treaty which categorically prohibits nuclear weapons. With 122 votes in favor, one vote against, and one country abstaining, the “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” was adopted Friday morning and will open for signature by states at the United Nations […]
The following update was originally posted on the FHI website: In the second 3 months of 2017, FHI has continued its work as before exploring crucial considerations for the long-run flourishing of humanity in our four research focus areas: Macrostrategy – understanding which crucial considerations shape what is at stake for the future of humanity. […]
Conference also Adopts Two Additional Resolutions Calling for Reversal of Military Spending to Meet the Needs of Cities Miami Beach, FL – At the close of its 85th Annual Meeting on Monday June 26, 2017, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), for the 12th consecutive year, adopted a strong resolution put forward by Mayors for Peace. The resolution, “Calling […]
The following statement was provided by Sue Coleman-Haseldine, a survivor of nuclear bomb tests near her home in Australia. She also present testimony at the UN negotiations on Tuesday, March 28. My name is Sue Coleman-Haseldine I am Kokatha elder. I was born on Koonibba Aboriginal Mission in 1951 which is about 40 km west […]
The following post is the statement presented by Hiroshima survivor Fujimori Toshiki to the United Nations on the first day of negotiations for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. United Nations conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination New York, 27 March 2017 Testimony by Fujimori […]
The following article was written by Vincent Conitzer and originally posted in Prospect Magazine. Progress in artificial intelligence has been rapid in recent years. Computer programs are dethroning humans in games ranging from Jeopardy to Go to poker. Self-driving cars are appearing on roads. AI is starting to outperform humans in image and speech recognition. […]
The following article and talk are by Jessica Taylor and they were originally posted on MIRI. At the EA Global 2016 conference, I gave a talk on “Using Machine Learning to Address AI Risk”: It is plausible that future artificial general intelligence systems will share many qualities in common with present-day machine learning systems. If […]
The following press release comes from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Unfettered Science Essential to Decision Making; the Science Community Will Be Watching WASHINGTON (November 30, 2016)—More than 2300 scientists from all fifty states, including 22 Nobel Prize recipients, released an open letter urging the Trump administration and Congress to set a high bar for […]
By Joe Cirincione History was made at the United Nations today. For the first time in its 71 years, the global body voted to begin negotiations on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. Eight nations with nuclear arms (the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, and Israel) opposed or abstained from […]
Click here to see this page in other languages: Russian By Wakanene Kamau This summer’s GMO labeling bill and the rise of genetic engineering techniques to combat Zika — the virus linked to microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome — have cast new light on how the government ensures public safety. As researchers and companies scramble to apply […]
