Joshua Saxe dives into the AANT debate: 'normal' means existing policy tools are the main defense
joshua_saxe · x · 2026-09-03
AI safety researcher Joshua Saxe joined the AANT (AI as a Normal Technology) debate, quoting his earlier rebuttal to critics of Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor's framework.
- He questions whether opponents object to the word 'normal' or the actual conceptual framework—arguing it's often the former masquerading as the latter, and many agree with AANT when pressed.
- His core argument: 'normal' means AI risks can be managed with "roughly speaking" the policy tools used for cars, planes, chemical waste, and nuclear energy. This framing counters the 'superalignment' narrative that treats safety as a product of isolated in-lab feats rather than ordinary policy instruments.
- binarybits (Peter Wildeford) said he and Saxe are largely on the same page.
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