Please Stop Encouraging Domestic Terrorism

If you tell enough people AI will kill them all, some will get violent.

Some asshole just threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s house and then showed up to the OpenAI HQ and threatened to burn it down.

Two days ago, another asshole fired a gun at a lawmaker’s house and left a note “No Data Centers”.

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A couple of years ago I asked Zvi Mowshowitz “If you believe AI will kill everyone, why aren’t you bombing chip fabs?” and he said “This isn’t who we are” (“we” meaning rationalists, I assume). I believed that. The original rationalists are mostly kind and non-violent people, a lot of whom have written things that have improved many people’s thinking and led to large charitable donations.

But at this point, everyone in the world is following AI, and many younger rationalists I meet are one bad breakup away from a doomsday cult. So the influential people in the movement have a choice - keep preaching the dangers of AI and eventually get blood on their hands, or stop and reckon with the fact that no AI system has ever demonstrated the kind of autonomous, world-ending capabilities they describe. The existential risks are all theoretical. The violence is real.

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This isn’t to say AI doesn’t have risks - all powerful technologies do. There will be cybersecurity incidents, there will be economic dislocation. But these are normal issues we encounter with every new technological leap. We know how to deal with them - through thoughtful legislation and assistance to those who get left behind. There is no need whatsoever for violence.

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A couple of days ago, Scott Alexander published a post to his subscribers about attending an anti-AI protest, and in it, listed OpenAI HQ’s address. After I commented that this will inevitably encourage some mentally unwell individual to commit atrocities, Scott completely dismissed the concern. And now, just a few days later, a Molotov cocktail thrower targeted that exact building.

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To the extent rationalist influencers actually believe in non-violence, I implore them to stop spreading doom. What started as a thought exercise amongst philosopher-like individuals is now rapidly morphing into a pattern of real-world violence. If you don’t want that to be your legacy - stop telling people AI will kill them all.