April 2015 Newsletter

In the News

* The MIT Technology Review recently published a compelling overview of the possibilities surrounding AI, featuring Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence and our open letter on AI research priorities.

+ For more news on our open letter, check out a thoughtful piece in Slate written by a colleague at the Future of Humanity Institute.

* FLI co-founder Meia Chita-Tegmark wrote a piece in the Huffington Post on public perceptions of AI and what it means for AI risk and research.

* Both Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak have recently joined the ranks of many AI experts and expressed concern about outcomes of superintelligent AI.

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Projects and Events

* We received nearly 300 applications for our global research program funded by Elon Musk! Thanks to hard work by a team of expert reviewers, we have now invited roughly a quarter of the applicants to submit full proposals due May 17. There are so many exciting project proposals that the review panel will face some very difficult choices! Our goal is to announce the winners by July 1.

* Looking for the latest in x-risk news? Check out our just-launched news site, featuring blog posts and articles written by x-risk researchers, journalists and FLI volunteers!

* On April 4, we held a large brainstorming meeting on biotech risk mitigation that included George Church and several other experts from the Harvard Wyss Institute and the Cambridge Working Group. We concluded that there are interesting opportunities for FLI to contribute in this area. We endorse the CWG statement on the Creation of Potential Pandemic Pathogens – click here