Open Thread 414
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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. Most content is free, some is subscriber only; you can subscribe here. Also:
1: Tyler Cowen and Patrick Collison are sponsoring A Call For New Aesthetics, $5K - $250K grants to “artists, architects, and designers who are consciously working to define” a new aesthetics for the 21st century. Seems crazy ambitious, but that’s what people said about Progress Studies, and that one worked, so this duo has earned my trust. But please do me a favor and only apply if your aesthetics are good. It would be a shame if they put in all this work, and we just got another hundred years of bad aesthetics.
2: MATS - a research fellowship for people who want to get into AI alignment, interpretability, security, and governance - is accepting applications for their summer cohort. 12 weeks, in person in either Berkeley or London, fully funded with $15K stipend, $12K compute budget, free room/board/travel. Apply here, they say the application will take “1 - 2 hours”, deadline January 18.
3: Ozy has a post arguing that EAs should be more willing to donate to political campaigns, and that donations before January 1 are most effective. Includes his specific candidate recommendations for Democrats; thoughts for Republicans/independents/non-Americans to follow.
And a reader writes in to say that if you’re an American concerned about chip exports, you might want to call your senator. To reduce friction as much as possible, he gives a potential script - go to 5calls.org, pick the first random issue on their list, ignore their suggested script, and paste this instead:
Hi, I’m X a constituent in Y. I’m calling about reports that the administration is allowing U.S. firms to sell advanced AI chips, like Nvidia’s H200, to approved customers in China.
I’m very concerned this could strengthen China’s strategic AI capabilities. Access to high-end chips is what limits how fast powerful AI models can be trained. Easing these controls risks accelerating China’s progress in military and intelligence applications, eroding the U.S. and allied lead in critical technologies.
I’m asking the Senator/Representative to push for full transparency on these export licenses, strict enforcement of end-use checks, and public hearings on whether these sales truly serve U.S. interests, and to support the GAIN AI Act.
Could you please log my concern and let me know the member’s position on this issue?