SECTIONS

Computing & AI

Envision a digital world defined by secure cooperation with other intelligences – humans and AIs alike.

Advances in cyberspace, computer security, cryptography, and auxiliary fields can help secure your data but also enable new forms of collaboration on shared goals. Advances in AI can transform how we solve problems and make decisions, in almost all areas, from healthcare to climate change. 

Imagine we could build a secure computing infrastructure in which humans and AIs might cooperate peacefully to advance civilizational progress and achieve a variety of goals.

Learn all about intelligence under "Intro," understand potential risks under "Risks," discover the most hopeful scenarios under "Hope," and find out how to get involved under "Action."

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Computing & AI
INTRO
RISKS
HOPE
ACTIONS

Artificial Intelligence

  • The Artificial Intelligence Revolution - Wait But Why. Intro-level post summarizing potential implications of Artificial (General) Intelligence. Forum/blog-post 
  • A Reply to WBW on Machine Intelligence - Luke Muehlhauser. Responds to the WBW post on AI with clarifications and corrections. Forum/blog-post 
  • 71 Definitions of Intelligence - Shane Legg. Reviews various explanations of intelligence. Forum/blog-post 
  • Society of Mind - Marvin Minsky. Classic on how intelligence on the level of the individual and society arises from individual agents cooperating with each other. Book
  • What is Intelligence? - Kurzgesagt. Intro-level explainer video defining intelligence. Video
  • Forecasting TAI with Biological Anchors - Ajeja Cotra. Report on what we can learn from human intelligence for forecasting artificial intelligence. Forum/blog-post 
  • Superintelligence - Nick Bostrom. Explores different take-off scenarios of AI, why they’re dangerous and possible preparatory actions. Book
  • Life 3.0 - Max Tegmark. On how AI affects crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our understanding of being human. Book
  • Benefits & Risks of AI. Future of Life Institute. An intro-level post on the benefits and risks of AI with various links to background material. Forum/blog-post 
  • Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence - FLI. Introductory post on AI with link list. Forum/blog-post 
  • How Sure Are We About This AI Stuff? - Ben Garfinkel. Forum/blog-post ‍
  • AGI Futures – Roon, Roon’s Blog. Delves into various topics related to technology, AI, and digital philosophy, via a mix of formats and thematic explorations. Forum/blog-post

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Crypto Commerce

  • Agoric Open System Papers - Eric Drexler, Mark S. Miller. Classic papers on software agents participating in computational markets for digital assets and resources. Academic paper
  • Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System - Satoshi Nakamoto. Classic paper that introduced bitcoin. Academic paper
  • Smart Contracts - Nick Szabo. Classic paper that introduced the concept of smart contracts. Academic paper
  • Crypto: An Oral Essay - A16z Podcast. Introductory essay on crypto basics.
  • What is a Blockchain? - MIT. Explainer on history, mechanisms, and applications of blockchains. Article
  • The Bitcoin Standard - Saifedean Ammous. On the rise of Bitcoin, focusing on the economic properties that have allowed it to grow, and its economic, political, and social implications.  Article
  • Check Your Financial Privilege - Alex Gladstein. On how Bitcoin helps support human rights, and fight financial repression inside authoritarian regimes around the world. Book‍
  • Cypherpunks, The Cypherpunk Mailing List - Archive. FAQ and mailing list from the cypherpunk community that was instrumental in building much of the cryptocommerce of today. Misc.

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Computing

Near-term Risks

  • Malicious Use of AI Report - Miles Brundage et. al. Report on various risks arising from near-term and longer-term progress in AI, and potential policy and technology approaches to address those risks. Academic paper
  • Slaughterbots - Stop Autonomous Weapons. Fictional short video on the dangers of lethal autonomous weapons. Video
  • Information Security Concerns for AI & The Long-term Future - Jeff Ladish. Introduces information security as a crucial problem that is currently undervalued by the AI safety community. Forum/blog-post 
  • Teachable Moment Dual Use - Lawfare Podcast. Interviews two scientists who created an AI-powered molecule generator that could design thousands of new biochemical weapons within hours. 
  • Daemon - Daniel Suarez. On the disastrous near-term implications of AI. Sci-fi content‍
  • After On - Rob Reid. on near-term risks of AI-infused social-media. Book

Intelligence Takeoff

The Alignment Issue

  • AGI Ruin: A List of Lethalities - Eliezer Yudkowsky. Forty-three reasons that make Yudkowsky pessimistic about our world being able to solve AGI safety. Forum/blog-post 
  • That Alien Message - Eliezer Yudkowsky. On AI revealing itself to humanity. Forum/blog-post 
  • The Basic AI Drives - Steve Omohundro. On fundamental drives that may be inherent in any artificially intelligent system and their dangers. Forum/blog-post 
  • Orthogonality Thesis - Nick Bostrom. On why an increase in intelligence does not have to be correlated with alignment in human values. Forum/blog-post 
  • AI Alignment & Security - Paul Christiano. On how the relationship between security and alignment concerns is underappreciated. Forum/blog-post ‍
  • Artificial Intelligence, Values and Alignment - Iason Gabriel. On philosophical considerations in relationship to AI alignment, proposing to select principles that receive wide-spread reflective endorsement. Academic paper

Coordination for AI Safety

Coordination for AI Safety

AI Macro Strategies

Value Alignment

Decentralized AI

  • Reframing Superintelligence, Intelligence Distillation, QNRS: Toward Language Models for Machines - Eric Drexler. Provides an alternative approach to AGI in which agents are a class of service-providing products, rather than a singleton-like engine of progress in themselves. Academic paper
  • Building Safe AI - Andrew Trask. Describes how federated learning could be leveraged to build an AI system that can produce insights based on the encrypted data of two mutually suspicious parties without itself gaining access to the data or leaking any information about its own algorithms. Forum/blog-post 
  • The Long-Tail Problem in AI and How Autonomous Markets Can Solve Them - Ali Yahya. On how decentralized autonomous hiveminds can incentivize local knowledge for problem-solving in a superior way to top down singleton-like systems, potentially creating a viable alternative. Forum/blog-post 
  • Blockchain-based ML Marketplaces - Fred Ehrsam. On how crypto market places filled by ML and opt-in privacy can create decentralized alternatives to top down AIs. Forum/blog-post 
  • Safe AGI via DLT - Kristen Carlson. On how distributed ledger technologies and related innovations may help create a safe ecosystem for the development of AGI. Academic paper
  • Pluralism Through Personalized AIs - Steve Omohundro. On how personal AI assistants can support human goals and cooperation across them. Audio
  • Open Source Game Theory is Weird - Andrew Critch. Introduces open source game theory. Forum/blog-post ‍
  • Gaming the Future - Allison Duettmann, Mark S. Miller, Christine Peterson. Introduces a decentralized approach to advanced AI that focuses on improved problem-solving arising from the cooperation of individual agents. Book

Crypto-based Innovation

Crypto-based Innovation

AI: Staying Up to Date

  • AI Alignment Newsletter - A weekly publication with recent content relevant to AI alignment with over 2600 subscribers. See also the AI Alignment Database spreadsheet. Newsletter
  • AI Alignment Forum - A single online hub for researchers to discuss all ideas related to ensuring that transformatively powerful AIs are aligned with human values. Website/Blog
  • AIsafety.com - AI safety reading list meeting regularly virtually. Website/Blog
  • AI Safety & Policy Job Board - 80,000 Hours. Website/Blog
  • AI Safety Support: Lots of Links - A collection of resources for everything AI Safety, including fellowships and training programmes, news and updates, research agendas, AI Safety organizations and initiatives, major publications, and support. Content list‍
  • Cognitive Revolution. Discusses the transformative impact of cognitive advancements on human evolution and society, exploring how changes in thinking and communication shaped historical and contemporary developments. Podcast

Decentralization: Staying Up to Date

  • Vitalik - Website. Vitalik Buterin’s personal website with regular posts on cryptoeconomics. Website/Blog‍
  • FredEhrsam - Website. Fred Ehrsam’s personal website on how crypto will create new money, institutions, and the internet. Website/Blog

Organizations in Decentralization

  • Guide to Working in AI Policy - Miles Brundage. On potential roles, requirements, and organizations in AI policy. Website/Blog
  • AI Safety Camp - Connects you with an experienced research mentor to collaborate on their open problem during intensive co-working sprints – helping you try your fit for a potential career in AI Safety research. Event
  • MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute) - MIRI's artificial intelligence research is focused on developing the mathematical theory of trustworthy reasoning for advanced autonomous AI systems. Organizations/projects
  • OpenAI - A non-profit artificial intelligence research company that aims to promote and develop friendly AI in such a way as to benefit humanity as a whole. Organizations/projects
  • DeepMind - Especially the Deepmind Ethics & Society Unit. Organizations/projects
  • Center for Human-Compatible AI - CHAI's goal is to develop the conceptual and technical wherewithal to reorient the general thrust of AI research towards provably beneficial systems. Organizations/projects
  • Anthropic - A research company that’s working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Organizations/projects
  • Safe Superintelligence - A company attempting a straight shot at artificial superintelligence. Organizations/projects
  • Future of Life Institute - A volunteer-run research and outreach organization in the Boston area that works to mitigate existential risks facing humanity, particularly existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence. Organizations/projects
  • GovAI - Building a global research community, dedicated to helping humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. Organizations/projects
  • Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Artificial Intelligence - A global community to ensure that AI benefits all of humanity. Organizations/projects
  • Aligned AI - A benefit corporation dedicated to solving the alignment problem – for all types of algorithms and AIs, from simple recommender systems to hypothetical superintelligences. Organizations/projects
  • Ought - A product-driven research lab that develops mechanisms for delegating open-ended thinking to advanced machine learning systems. Organizations/projects
  • OpenMined - Help each member of society to answer their most important questions by empowering them to learn from data owned and governed by others. Organizations/projects
  • Foresight Institute - Supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies to make great futures more likely. Organizations/projects
  • AI Startups in SF - Overview of AI startups based in San Francisco. Content list
  • Collective Intelligence Project - Effective, decentralized, and agentic decision-making across individuals and communities to produce best-case outcomes for the collective. Organizations/projects
  • Cooperative AI - CAIF's mission is to support research that will improve the cooperative intelligence of advanced AI for the benefit of all. Organizations/projects
  • PIBBS - Principles of Intelligent Behavior in Biological and Social Systems (PIBBSS) is a research initiative aiming to leverage insights on the parallels between intelligent behavior in natural and artificial systems towards progress on important questions in AI risk, governance and safety. Organizations/projects
  • FAR AI - FAR AI’s mission is to ensure AI systems are trustworthy and beneficial to society. They incubate and accelerate research agendas that are too resource-intensive for academia but not yet ready for commercialisation by industry. Organizations/projects
  • Lionheart - Lionheart Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on mitigating civilizational risk. We do this by supporting the wise development of transformative technologies. Organizations/projects
  • Metaplanet - Metaplanet is an evergreen fund that invests in founders defining the future across sectors and geographies. It values academic mentality, grit, defensibility and multi-generational impact of the ventures it backs. Organizations/projects
  • Palisade Research - Palisade studies the offensive capabilities of AI systems today to better understand the risk of losing control to AI systems forever. Organizations/projects‍
  • Apollo Research - Apollo works to understand AI systems well enough to prevent the development and deployment of deceptive AIs. Organizations/projects

Organizations in Decentralization

  • Satoshi Nakamoto Institute - has early Email lists, protocols, background resources on Bitcoin. Website/Blog
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation -  An international non-profit digital rights group. Organizations/projects
  • Internet Archive - A non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Organizations/projects
  • Center for Long-term Cybersecurity - Is developing and shaping cybersecurity research and practice based on a long-term vision of the internet and its future. Organizations/projects
  • OpenMined - We are on a mission to help each member of society to answer their most important questions by empowering them to learn from data owned and governed by others. Organizations/projects..
  • Ethereum Foundation - Dedicated to supporting the Ethereum blockchain and related technologies. Organizations/projects
  • Protocol Labs - We build protocols, tools, and services to radically improve the internet. Organizations/projects
  • Gitcoin - A platform where you get paid to work on open source software. Organizations/projects
  • RMIT - A blockchain innovation hub. Organizations/projects
  • SeL4 Foundation - Sel4-focused computer security foundation. Organizations/projects
  • Plurality Research Network - Convenes researchers from computer science, political ethics, sociology, and government, who are experimenting with plural technologies. Organizations/project
  • Ethereum Conferences - Events to meet people in the global Ethereum community, learn about employment opportunities, and develop new skills. Event
  • DWeb Conference. Internet Archive’s Decentralized Web conference. Event
  • DefCon - Hacker and security conference. Event‍
  • Financial Cryptography Conference with Bitcoin Workshop Track - A major international forum for research, advanced development, education, exploration, and debate regarding information assurance, with a specific focus on commercial contexts. Event