[Paper Discussion] Gradual Disempowerment: Systemic Existential Risk from Incremental AI Development

Name: [Paper Discussion] Gradual Disempowerment: Systemic Existential Risk from Incremental AI Development
Start: 2025-04-16T18:00:00+02:00
Location: Sveavägen 76, SE-113 59 Stockholm, Sverige

Schedule

Wed, 16 Apr, 2025 at 06:00 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Sveavägen 76, SE-113 59 Stockholm, Sverige | Stockholm, ST

Hello everyone,
We invite you to join us for our next paper discussion session – this time on "Gradual Disempowerment: Systemic Existential Risks from Incremental AI Development". We strongly encourage you to read the paper beforehand as we think everybody will get more out of the discussion then (and it is "only" 23 pages). However, you are still welcome to join the discussion if you haven't read the (entire) paper! Feel free to invite others who you think could be interested in discussing this paper with us!
Here is the abstract of the paper: This paper examines the systemic risks posed by incremental advancements in artificial intelligence, developing the concept of `gradual disempowerment', in contrast to the abrupt takeover scenarios commonly discussed in AI safety. We analyze how even incremental improvements in AI capabilities can undermine human influence over large-scale systems that society depends on, including the economy, culture, and nation-states. As AI increasingly replaces human labor and cognition in these domains, it can weaken both explicit human control mechanisms (like voting and consumer choice) and the implicit alignments with human interests that often arise from societal systems' reliance on human participation to function. Furthermore, to the extent that these systems incentivise outcomes that do not line up with human preferences, AIs may optimize for those outcomes more aggressively. These effects may be mutually reinforcing across different domains: economic power shapes cultural narratives and political decisions, while cultural shifts alter economic and political behavior. We argue that this dynamic could lead to an effectively irreversible loss of human influence over crucial societal systems, precipitating an existential catastrophe through the permanent disempowerment of humanity. This suggests the need for both technical research and governance approaches that specifically address the risk of incremental erosion of human influence across interconnected societal systems.
Full paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.16946
Website: https://gradual-disempowerment.ai/
X: https://x.com/DavidDuvenaud/status/1885009775185858823
⏰ April 16, 18:00
📍 Sveavägen 76 (EA Sweden Office)
🍿 Vegan snacks will be provided
When you arrive, ring the doorbell labeled "Effektiv Altruism" and we'll let you in!
Looking forward to seeing you there!