Center on Long-Term Risk: 2023 Fundraiser

Abstract

Our goal: CLR’s goal is to reduce the worst risks of astronomical suffering (s-risks). Our concrete research programs are on AI conflict, Evidential Cooperation in Large Worlds (ECL), and s-risk macrostrategy. We ultimately want to identify and advocate for interventions that reliably shape the development and deployment of advanced AI systems in a positive way.Fundraising: We have had a short-term funding shortfall and a lot of medium-term funding uncertainty. Our minimal fundraising goal is $750,000. We think this is a particularly good time to donate to CLR for people interested in supporting work on s-risks, work on Cooperative AI, work on acausal interactions, or work on generally important longtermist topics. Causes of Conflict Research Group: In 2022, we started evaluating various interventions related to AI conflict (e.g., surrogate goals, preventing conflict-seeking preferences). We also started developing methods for evaluating conflict-relevant properties of large language models. Our priorities for next year are to continue developing and evaluating these, and to continue our work with large language models.Other researchers: In 2022, others researchers at CLR worked on topics including the implications of ECL, the optimal timing of AI safety spending, the likelihood of earth-originating civilization encountering extraterrestrials, and program equilibrium. Our priorities for the next year include continuing some of this work, alongside other work including on strategic modeling and agent foundations.S-risk community-building: Our s-risk community building programs received very positive feedback. We had calls or meetings with over 150 people interested in contributing to s-risk reduction. In 2023, we plan to at least continue our existing programs (i.e., intro fellowship, Summer Research Fellowship, retreat) if we can raise the required funds. If we can even hire additional staff, we want to expand our outreach function and create more resources for community members (e.g., curated reading lists, career guide, introductory content, research database).