ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal.
A lot of smart people are worried that future AI systems could become dangerously misaligned with human values. The concern is that as these systems gain power, their goals might drift from ours–leaving humans vulnerable. Researchers in the AI safety world are working to prevent this by aligning systems with our values. At the same time, there’s another group of researchers, equally brilliant, who find the idea of a rogue AI implausible and mostly dismiss the risks.
Michael Nielsen’s essay presents a nuanced thesis: artificial superintelligence (ASI) may pose an existential threat, but not in the way current AI safety research tends to frame it. He argues that alignment research may inadvertently accelerate the path to such powerful AGI; and that while those efforts might help mitigate certain dangers, they also obscure or neglect other existential risks.
At the heart of his argument is this striking line: “Deep understanding of reality is intrinsically dual use.” Nielsen explores how this dynamic plays out as science and technology advance over time. The essay is accessible, thought-provoking, and by far the most insightful piece I’ve read on the potential dangers of frontier AI systems. Highly recommended.