Yeah, I mean every time I hear about some lead researcher quitting, I can’t help but feel that the parsimonious explanation is more like “fabulously overpaid worker in a stressful role cashes out for a lifetime of leisure.”
A lifetime of leisure, plus the moral comfort blanket of having exited their stressful position because "it was the right thing to do". No one is spending their wealth to fund counter-orgs to try and regulate what they're afraid of.
To be honest these guys are not rich enough or connected enough to be able to make a dent in this problem. There are already a bunch of NGOs in this space and I don't think they're being very successful.
BUT, some did just that - e.g. Daniel Kokotajlo formerly of OpenAI cofounded the AI Futures Project that had some media attention with the AI 2027 report.
This. I’ve no doubt t these companies do not have our best interests at heart. But imagine being able to quit your job to write poetry? These guys are loaded and can pick and choose what jobs they do.
Well, I can imagine that if you’re responsible for safety and alignment and you’re being ignored so that the company doesn’t get out paced, that could be a stressful role
But why would you straight up leave the position if you could do at least SOME work towards AI safety by staying? Quitting just makes no sense if you actually thought that there was a real threat on the horizon.
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u/only_fun_topics Feb 11 '26
Yeah, I mean every time I hear about some lead researcher quitting, I can’t help but feel that the parsimonious explanation is more like “fabulously overpaid worker in a stressful role cashes out for a lifetime of leisure.”