Open Thread 366

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This is the weekly visible open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. ACX has an unofficial subreddit, Discord, and bulletin board, and in-person meetups around the world. 95% of content is free, but for the remaining 5% you can subscribe here. Also:

1: I’m working as a media/writing consultant for an AI forecasting project, and we’re looking for leads on a mainstream news outlet (eg NYT, WaPo) and a policy/defense/intelligence/foreign affairs journal/magazine who would be willing to let us pitch you an article on the future of AI. The main author would be an ex-OpenAI researcher previously profiled in major publications (eg NYT), who is running a big forecasting project and wants to do a media push around the time they release their results. The forecast is shaping up to be “superintelligence by 2028” - but if your target audience isn’t into that, they also have plenty of predictions and recommendations about normal stuff like China, arms races, chips, etc in the 2025 - 2027 period that they think the policy community might want to know about. Send me an email at scott@slatestarcodex.com if you’re interested or know someone who might be.

2: Dan Hendrycks’ Center For AI Safety is offering an online course (application deadline Feb 5, course dates Feb 19 to May 9). You could also just download the textbook. I’ve seen a decent number of people get involved in the field starting with courses like these - not because the course itself completely prepares you for everything, but because it helps you understand things well enough that you know where to go next (and it says that “we will support you in identifying your next steps, whether that involves building upon your end-of-course project, pursuing further research, or applying for relevant opportunities.”)