Why people stay in AI labs despite extinction fears — and METR's alternative
michael_nielsen · x · 2026-09-09
JoeJBenton explains he joined METR because the industry may be building systems that impose unprecedented risk on the world, and evaluating those risks plus changing incentive structures is the way to address them. ChrisPainterYup pushes back on the common view that staying inside AI labs is the only viable path: many remain even when they believe the default outcome is extinction, simply because they don't think better options exist outside. He argues that's wrong — a substantive debate on where safety-minded people can actually act.
Related event: AI Safety Researcher Joe Benton Joins METR(2 posts)→
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