NIST staffers revolt against expected appointment of ‘effective altruist’ AI researcher to US AI Safety Institute (venturebeat.com)
from Architeuthis@awful.systems to sneerclub@awful.systems on 08 Mar 2024 15:32
https://awful.systems/post/1140066

The person in question is Paul Christiano, whose substack reads like a bland parody of rationalist blogs and whose career trajectory according to the wiki indeed indicates a deep connection to the EA military-industrial complex, including familial ties as his wife works for Open Philanthropy.

His main claim to fame appears to be his involvement in the development of RLFH, otherwise he sounds like a standard-fare EA-funded alignment think-abouter, and also SBF liked his start up to the tune of $1.25M.

#sneerclub

threaded - newest

skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de on 08 Mar 2024 15:50 next collapse

rats most advanced attempt at their own operation snow white

gerikson@awful.systems on 08 Mar 2024 19:19 next collapse

HN weighs in (no real bangers so far):

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39643951

blakestacey@awful.systems on 08 Mar 2024 20:49 collapse

However, Divyansh Kaushik, associate director for emerging technologies and national security at the Federation of American Scientists, told VentureBeat that President Biden’s AI Executive Order, introduced in November 2023, specifically asks NIST and the AISI to focus on certain tasks — including CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials) — for which Paul Christiano is “extremely qualified.”

[citation needed]