Do you work at an AI lab? Please quit

post by Nik Samoylov (nik-samoylov) · 2023-05-05T23:41:31.560Z · LW · GW · 9 comments

AI labs are on a quest to bring a prosperous wonderful future for all men and women of the world, without disease or suffering, altruistically building machines that will shine knowledge, prosperity, and splendour onto the universe. Their glorious leaders are fighting against adversity, towards ..... - and other egregious baloney, you know.

You are smart enough to see through the bs, wishful thinking, and self-deceit. There is no magic in the world. This thing will explode and you will be hurt, maybe worse than others - because your conscience will not forgive you and in your last dying moment you will be engulfed by sorrow. 

That is... unless you quit. 

If YOU, the reader, employed at Anthropic, Google, Baidu, Microsoft, HuggingFace, Meta, etc, quit. This will not happen. We will not become a galaxy-faring species during your lifetime either, and that's actually OK.

Don't fool yourself. You are not going to get the light cone of the universe. You know how all these rushed kerfuffles end.

You are a free person, and you can quit today.

9 comments

Comments sorted by top scores.

comment by James_Miller · 2023-05-06T00:53:06.346Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I'm at over 50% chance that AI will kill us all. But consider the decision to quit from a consequentialist viewpoint. Most likely the person who replaces you will be almost as good as you at capacity research but care far less than you do about AI existential risk. Humanity, consequently, probably has a better chance if you stay in the lab ready for the day when, hopefully, lots of lab workers try to convince the bosses that now is the time for a pause, or at least that now is the time to shift a lot of resources from capacity to alignment.

Replies from: nik-samoylov, rhollerith_dot_com
↑ comment by Nik Samoylov (nik-samoylov) · 2023-05-06T01:05:12.997Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The time for a pause is now. Advancing AI capabilities now is immoral and undemocractic.

OK, then, here is another suggestion I have for the concerned people at AI labs: Go on a strike and demand that capability research is dropped in favour of alignment research.

Replies from: James_Miller
↑ comment by James_Miller · 2023-05-06T01:13:39.505Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Your framework appears to be moral rather than practical.  Right now going on strike would just get you fired, but in a year or two perhaps it could accomplish something. You should consider the marginal impact of the action of a few workers on the likely outcome with AI risk.

Replies from: nik-samoylov
↑ comment by Nik Samoylov (nik-samoylov) · 2023-05-06T01:18:58.678Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I am using a moral appeal to elicit a practical outcome.

Right now going on strike would just get you fired, but in a year or two perhaps it could accomplish something.

Two objections:

  1. I think it will not get you fired now. If you are an expensive AI researcher (or better a bunch of AI researchers), your act will create a small media storm. Firing you will not be an acceptable option for optics. (Just don't say you believe AI is conscious.)
  2. A year or two might be a little late for that.

One recommendation: Unionise.

You should consider the marginal impact of the action of a few workers on the likely outcome with AI risk.

Great marginal impact, precisely because of the media effect. "AI researchers strike against the machines, demanding AI lab pause"

Replies from: James_Miller
↑ comment by James_Miller · 2023-05-06T01:33:13.634Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I like the idea of an AI lab workers' union. It might be worth talking to union organizers and AI lab workers to see how practical the idea is, and what steps would have to be taken. Although a danger is that the union would put salaries ahead of existential risk.

Replies from: nik-samoylov
↑ comment by Nik Samoylov (nik-samoylov) · 2023-05-06T04:46:34.960Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Great to see some support for these ideas. Well, if anything at all, a union will be a good distraction for the management and a drain on finances that would otherwise be spent on compute.

I do not know how I can help personally with this, but here is a link for anyone who reads this and happens to work at an AI lab: https://aflcio.org/formaunion/4-steps-form-union

Demand an immediate undefinite pause. Demand that all work is dropped and you only work on alignment until it is solved. Demand that humanity live and not die.

comment by Nik Samoylov (nik-samoylov) · 2023-05-06T00:33:11.603Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Would be great to hear the objections from the down-voters.

Replies from: 1a3orn
↑ comment by 1a3orn · 2023-05-06T17:45:54.358Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

In general, appeals to people of the form "You already agree with me that this is right, you're just lying to yourself and that's why you don't do it," are not apt to be well-received. Such appeals combine the belief that the right thing to do is obvious (which is often false) and that the person you address is actually deceiving themself (which is also often false).

Consider:

"You already know Jesus is God, you're resisting His grace because of your attachment to sin, but I know you can turn away from the darkness." Or "You already know Christianity is false, you're just staying in it because it is comfortable, I know you can face the truth of atheism."

Both from opposite perspectives, but both quite irritating to hear, and both including statements about the listener's internal state that are often just false. I think this kind of appeal is a result of expecting short inferential distances [LW · GW]

comment by Nik Samoylov (nik-samoylov) · 2023-05-06T00:03:44.359Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

And some practical advice on quitting. 

Regardless of what contract says, you can quit any time. No contract under law can force you to work out any specific time. You do not owe your company any specific amount of time because slavery was abolished a little while ago already.

Even contracts that say that "your company paid you a sign-on bonus that you have to re-pay if you leave within a year" are questionable. See https://qr.ae/pyIrpO .

You do not owe it to your family and friends to stay there. In a few months when uproar will be massive and public, you will be seen as an early hero. (See case of Hinton.)

If you work there, it means you are so smart that you will easily get a job elsewhere (maybe for less pay, I admit). I will personally help you find a job if you have any trouble.

How to quit: It is very easy. Send an email to your direct manager OR HR:

Subject: Resigning effective immediately

Body:

Dear (name of your manager or HR person).

I hereby resign from my position effective immediately. 

I wish you all the very best and remain your loyal friend.

Best regards,
(Your name)