Machine Intelligence Research Institute Explained

Type:Nonprofit research institute
Purpose:Research into friendly artificial intelligence and the AI control problem
Location:Berkeley, California, U.S.
Key People:Eliezer Yudkowsky

The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), formerly the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI), is a non-profit research institute focused since 2005 on identifying and managing potential existential risks from artificial general intelligence. MIRI's work has focused on a friendly AI approach to system design and on predicting the rate of technology development.

History

In 2000, Eliezer Yudkowsky founded the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence with funding from Brian and Sabine Atkins, with the purpose of accelerating the development of artificial intelligence (AI).[1] However, Yudkowsky began to be concerned that AI systems developed in the future could become superintelligent and pose risks to humanity,[1] and in 2005 the institute moved to Silicon Valley and began to focus on ways to identify and manage those risks, which were at the time largely ignored by scientists in the field.[2]

Starting in 2006, the Institute organized the Singularity Summit to discuss the future of AI including its risks, initially in cooperation with Stanford University and with funding from Peter Thiel. The San Francisco Chronicle described the first conference as a "Bay Area coming-out party for the tech-inspired philosophy called transhumanism".[3] [4] In 2011, its offices were four apartments in downtown Berkeley.[5] In December 2012, the institute sold its name, web domain, and the Singularity Summit to Singularity University,[6] and in the following month took the name "Machine Intelligence Research Institute".[7]

In 2014 and 2015, public and scientific interest in the risks of AI grew, increasing donations to fund research at MIRI and similar organizations.[8]

In 2019, Open Philanthropy recommended a general-support grant of approximately $2.1 million over two years to MIRI.[9] In April 2020, Open Philanthropy supplemented this with a $7.7M grant over two years.[10] [11]

In 2021, Vitalik Buterin donated several million dollars worth of Ethereum to MIRI.[12]

Research and approach

MIRI's approach to identifying and managing the risks of AI, led by Yudkowsky, primarily addresses how to design friendly AI, covering both the initial design of AI systems and the creation of mechanisms to ensure that evolving AI systems remain friendly.[13] [14] [15]

MIRI researchers advocate early safety work as a precautionary measure.[16] However, MIRI researchers have expressed skepticism about the views of singularity advocates like Ray Kurzweil that superintelligence is "just around the corner".[14] MIRI has funded forecasting work through an initiative called AI Impacts, which studies historical instances of discontinuous technological change, and has developed new measures of the relative computational power of humans and computer hardware.[17]

MIRI aligns itself with the principles and objectives of the effective altruism movement.[18]

Works by MIRI staff

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. News: MIRI: Artificial Intelligence: The Danger of Good Intentions - Future of Life Institute . Future of Life Institute . 11 October 2015 . 28 August 2018 . 28 August 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180828102343/https://futureoflife.org/2015/10/11/113/ . live .
  2. Khatchadourian . Raffi . The Doomsday Invention . The New Yorker . 2018-08-28 . 2019-04-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190429183807/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/23/doomsday-invention-artificial-intelligence-nick-bostrom . live .
  3. News: Abate . Tom . 2006 . Smarter than thou? . . 12 October 2015 . 11 February 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110211154255/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F05%2F12%2FBUG9IIMG1V197.DTL . live .
  4. News: Abate . Tom . 2007 . Public meeting will re-examine future of artificial intelligence . . 12 October 2015 . 14 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160114083206/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Public-meeting-will-re-examine-future-of-2504766.php . live .
  5. News: Kaste . Martin . The Singularity: Humanity's Last Invention? . All Things Considered, NPR . January 11, 2011 . en . August 28, 2018 . August 28, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180828134334/https://www.npr.org/2011/01/11/132840775/The-Singularity-Humanitys-Last-Invention . live .
  6. News: Press release: Singularity University Acquires the Singularity Summitt . Singularity University . 9 December 2012 . 28 August 2018 . 27 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190427112149/https://singularityu.org/2012/12/09/singularity-university-acquires-the-singularity-summit/ . live .
  7. News: Press release: We are now the "Machine Intelligence Research Institute" (MIRI) - Machine Intelligence Research Institute . Machine Intelligence Research Institute . 30 January 2013 . 28 August 2018 . 23 September 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180923081559/https://intelligence.org/2013/01/30/we-are-now-the-machine-intelligence-research-institute-miri/ . live .
  8. Book: . Tegmark. Max. 2017. Knopf. 978-1-101-94659-6. United States.
  9. Web site: Machine Intelligence Research Institute — General Support (2019). 2019-03-29. Open Philanthropy Project. en. 2019-10-08. 2019-10-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20191008133508/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2019. live.
  10. Web site: Machine Intelligence Research Institute — General Support (2020). 10 March 2020. Open Philanthropy Project. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200413172954/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2020. April 13, 2020.
  11. Web site: MIRI's largest grant to date! . MIRI . April 27, 2020 . Bensinger . Rob . April 27, 2020 . April 27, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200427231623/https://intelligence.org/2020/04/27/miris-largest-grant-to-date/ . live .
  12. Web site: Maheshwari . Suyash . 2021-05-13 . Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin donates $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency to India COVID Relief Fund & other charities . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20210824123721/https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/ethereum-creator-vitalik-buterin-donates-15-billion-in-cryptocurrency-to-india-covid-relief-fund-other-charities/ar-BB1gG1nr . 2021-08-24 . 2023-01-23 . MSN.
  13. News: Waters . Richard . Artificial intelligence: machine v man . 27 August 2018 . Financial Times . 31 October 2014 . 27 August 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180827110408/https://www.ft.com/content/abc942cc-5fb3-11e4-8c27-00144feabdc0 . live .
  14. News: Building Robots With Better Morals Than Humans. LaFrance. Adrienne. 2015. The Atlantic. 12 October 2015. 19 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150819210306/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/building-robots-with-better-morals-than-humans/385015/. live.
  15. Book: Russell . Stuart . Stuart J. Russell . Norvig . Peter . Peter Norvig . 2009 . . Prentice Hall . 978-0-13-604259-4.
  16. Web site: Sathian . Sanjena . The Most Important Philosophers of Our Time Reside in Silicon Valley . OZY . 4 January 2016 . 28 July 2018 . en . 29 July 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180729013157/https://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-21st-century-philosophers/65230 . live .
  17. News: Hsu . Jeremy . 2015 . Making Sure AI's Rapid Rise Is No Surprise . . 12 October 2015 . 12 October 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151012072128/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/lovesick-cyborg/2015/09/02/making-sure-ais-rapid-rise-is-no-surprise/ . live .
  18. Web site: AI and Effective Altruism. 2015-08-28. Machine Intelligence Research Institute. en-US. 2019-10-08. 2019-10-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20191008133821/https://intelligence.org/2015/08/28/ai-and-effective-altruism/. live.

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