Re:Effective altruism and the current funding situation
by btrettel on Tuesday May 10, 2022 @06:17PM
(#31333399)
> we keep seeing examples of AI researchers there not being taken seriously despite the quality of their work
This phenomena is not unique to AI safety. It often is driven by management incentives.
I agree that AI safety is not a solved problem in practice, but that doesn't mean it's neglected. AI safety gets a lot of attention, and it is important, but it's not "neglected" in the sense that too few people work on it or that there isn't enough money in it [0]. I think the marginal impact of a new person in AI safety is roughly zero, all else equal. AI safety folks would probably do best to change their priorities away from "ivory tower" sort of issues towards the practical issues you bring up.
This phenomena is not unique to AI safety. It often is driven by management incentives.
I agree that AI safety is not a solved problem in practice, but that doesn't mean it's neglected. AI safety gets a lot of attention, and it is important, but it's not "neglected" in the sense that too few people work on it or that there isn't enough money in it [0]. I think the marginal impact of a new person in AI safety is roughly zero, all else equal. AI safety folks would probably do best to change their priorities away from "ivory tower" sort of issues towards the practical issues you bring up.
[0] EAs typically use people or money to measure neglectedness. https://80000hours.org/articles/problem-framework/#how-to-as...