Expert opinions on Research Policy

I support a pause in development while we figure out how to make these systems safe, and especially a pause in the development of agents.

Governments must assume their responsibilities. It is the first responsibility of any government to protect its citizens – including from the threats of artificial intelligence. National action is essential. But global coordination is also indispensa...

It's actually impossible to control it unless we think the entire world is going to sing kumbaya and say let's slow down, which as you said is unlikely. So if that's the case, fine. You put slowdown here maybe. Well, okay. Does it mean Japan slows do...

The AI Biosecurity Lab will be a major new global institution bringing together world-leading scientific expertise to keep the country safe.

But the main regret I have with this talk is that I wish I had prepared a more for the section on a “CERN for AI.” The idea behind such a project is to pool many countries’ and companies’ resources into a single (possibly physically decentralized) ci...

There are many conceivable versions of a “CERN for AI.” But the version that seems politically realistic (a new catch-up lab) probably would not do much for safety, while the versions that would materially improve safety (e.g., pause + merge of all c...

Many developers are improving transparency and offering global opt-out mechanisms, but there is scope to design more granular user controls, supported by “just-in-time transparency” mechanisms that deliver relevant information at the moment of intera...

An opt-out system as proposed by AI companies places burdens and costs on rights holders, as it would require ongoing surveillance to see whether copyright material is being used. We cannot scour the internet and ensure we are opting out on all of th...

Embedded evaluators are independent external experts placed within frontier AI companies to provide ongoing assessments and validation of a company’s safety, security, and operational systems, practices, and claims. [...] Contracts should contain spe...

Connecticut already has strong whistleblower laws that protect employees from retaliation. [...] creating a separate, AI-specific whistleblower regime could lead to confusion, duplication, and unintended consequences for employers operating in highly...

As we build open, decentralized AGI at BGI Labs, we are investigating how our systems can preserve beneficial goals as they modify and improve themselves, and how to safely distribute control over them.

Many leading companies are engaged in a single-minded pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI). [...] Rather than racing to replace people, we should build AI tools that amplify human expertise and expand opportunity.

Physicists faced a version of this problem in the 1950s. No single lab could afford the machine they needed, so they pooled resources and built one together, with shared data and shared credit. This piece sketches what the same move could look like f...

It is irresponsible for society to allow them to move forward and make these products even more advanced. That’s why I am introducing legislation to immediately pause the development of increasingly powerful AI and ban the creation of systems that hu...

Before, or concurrently with, deploying a new frontier model or a substantially modified version of an existing frontier model, a large frontier developer shall include in the transparency report required by paragraph (a) of this subdivision, summari...

For the most advanced frontier AI models, an independent, federally overseen, industry-backed organization could set safety standards and verify independent, voluntary audits, similar to how other critical sectors are managed.

Middle powers should combine complementary national assets and pool the capabilities that require scale, while preserving national and commercial control over applications, deployment, language, and sector-specific use. Shared efforts could include m...

The answer isn't convergence for its own sake. We can push too hard on one thing. But if you have one standard, you could risk a lowest common denominator outcome that can cost us the innovation system as well and might have a risk on the national in...

The way to get there is a shared machine-readable format. I call it a Safety Framework Card.

Countries should not restrict open-weight AI models.

Open-weight systems are the lifeblood of open research and innovation in AI. They increase transparency, allow for widespread red teaming, and decrease market concentration. However, open-weight models also pose unique risks. They can allow harmful A...

Internal model transparency is a minimum viable form of research transparency: instead of sharing every innovation, labs share only the finished artifact – the model itself. And while AI 2040 argues for this transparency to be total, to all members o...

But if governments don’t invest in the safety infrastructure now, public trust will erode, and the opportunity to leverage benefits from AI will go away, and then we’re looking at deepening inequality.

This paper proposes Europa Nova: a treaty-based research institution, modelled on CERN but with a commercial licensing arm, dedicated to sovereign European capability in frontier AI, up to and including safe artificial general intelligence. [...] One...

A semi-distributed structure, with a few core facilities, leveraging members' comparative advantages. Core facilities—fewer in number than the participating states—are necessary to create a critical mass of talent. Similarly, distributed compute can ...

Despite years of sensational internet conspiracies suggesting it could create black holes or portals, the shutdown is simply routine.

Scientists’ conclusions about risk cannot be taken at face value. Their assurances must be discounted by the probability of their own error. [...] It does not follow that LHC risk is zero: An accurate assessment of risk must include the possibility t...

Black holes DO NOT EVAPORATE — hence they can only grow. [...] Inside matter, a resident black hole will not grow linerally but rather — via self-organization — form a so-called “miniquasar”: an electro-gravitational engine that grows exponentially, ...

This is still a viable conspiracy theory that could be true. As far as I'm concerned, it's more likely to be true than the wet market origins. So, I think that's why, again during COVID, what I would have liked to see is our public policymakers and p...

In the 78-page document, we determined that most of the peer-reviewed scientific evidence supports the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 has a zoonotic origin, meaning that it came from an animal.

The origins of the coronavirus pandemic remain contested; the evidence is incomplete.

This is still a viable conspiracy theory that could be true. As far as I'm concerned, it's more likely to be true than the wet market origins. So, I think that's why, again during COVID, what I would have liked to see is our public policymakers and p...

The origins of the coronavirus pandemic remain contested; the evidence is incomplete.

The majority of virologists and epidemiologists who have examined the question conclude that the available evidence favors a natural spillover origin. No credible evidence links NIH-funded research to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.