Scott Alexander clashes with Melanie Mitchell over who speaks for expert consensus on AI risk
slatestarcodex · x · 2026-10-07
Scott Alexander responded to Melanie Mitchell, clarifying he didn't mean to belittle her — he objected to media articles citing her as one of three experts representing a consensus that AI isn't dangerous, in pieces claiming "scientists" rejected the risk thesis.
Mitchell pushed back, pointing to her research record: analogy work from her 1980s PhD, plus extensive research on modern LLMs, with her two most recent papers accepted at NeurIPS.
The exchange highlights a recurring fight in AI-risk discourse: who gets counted as an "expert consensus" — and who decides.
Related event: Scott Alexander's Open Letter to Pinker Sparks Multi-Front AI Risk Debate(16 posts)→
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