Dean W. Ball on Pausing AI at human-genius level to sol…

Dean W. Ball

Author of Hyperdimensional

I would also say the development of this technology is a national security priority, and it seems really hard to... it seems like a really big cost to impose something where we would self-consciously slow ourselves down when others are not doing that. [...] I think it’s very possible that by doing that in practice—as someone who has observed lots and lots of these regimes play out—I think it’s very possible that by doing that in practice, you would actually end up not just being worse for innovation, but being worse for safety.

AI Verified (Nov 21, 2025)

Source:

Max Tegmark vs. Dean Ball: Should We BAN Superintelligence?

2mo ago

Policy proposals and claims

Pausing AI at human-genius level to solve alignment is safer than either racing to superintelligence or halting entirely

votes Against

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AI Verified The quote is explicitly about opposing a slowdown or halt on advanced AI development, which squarely bears on the statement. gpt-5 · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 2mo ago

Vote inference verification history AI Verified Report this

AI Verified The quote says slowing ourselves down would be a big cost and frames the tech as a national security priority, so 'against' matches. gpt-5 · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 2mo ago

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AI Verified The Substack transcript includes the same 'national security priority' / 'slow ourselves down' passage at line 386. gpt-5 · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 2mo ago

replying to Dean W. Ball

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Dean W. Ball votes Against

AI alignment is solvable

But alignment is no solution: it is an unsolved scientific and technical problem whose solutions—to the extent that we have them—cannot simply be imposed on every AI company operating on Earth.

AI Verified source (Sep 1, 2026)

added 18d ago

Dean W. Ball votes For

AI value alignment must be subject to public deliberation, not decided by developers alone

You should not expect the most powerful people in the world using the most powerful technology ever conceived in a way that is inscrutable to the public to turn out well, and you should see that dynamic as fundamentally inconsistent with a democratic...

more AI Verified source (Jul 28, 2026)

added 1mo ago

Dean W. Ball votes For

Require AI labs to publish safety evaluations before deploying frontier models

There is much to recommend these laws over the Nevada and Illinois bills I discussed above. Unlike those laws, SB 53 and RAISE are technically sophisticated, reflecting a clear understanding (for the most part) about what it is possible for AI develo...

more AI Verified source (Aug 21, 2025)

added 7mo ago