Boaz Barak and Nathan Calvin Debate Scott Alexander's SURA Essay on Unilateral AI Restraint
austinc3301 · x · 2026-11-02
A debate over Scott Alexander's SURA essay. Boaz Barak agrees with parts but notes a huge spectrum between 'stop unilaterally' and 'race to RSI at maximum speed, then solve alignment with right-on-the-brink-of-superintelligence AIs'; he also finds the essay treats the release of aligned superintelligence as the end of history and is unclear on what follows. Nathan Calvin adds that the essay conflates companies fully stopping AI development unilaterally with companies exercising more unilateral restraint that might slow them down to reach a better collective equilibrium, and argues safety-motivated companies should invest far more in solving the collective action problem via policies that could actually restrain them and their competitors.
Related event: Scott Alexander's "Against SURA" Sparks Fierce AI Safety Debate(21 posts)→
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