AI safety researcher: technical 'AI Safety' work has been product work empowering big labs
j_foerst · x · 2026-11-03
Citing a LessWrong retrospective "What just happened? A retrospective of AI alignment," researcher jfoerst argues that technical "AI Safety" work has effectively been product work that massively accelerated and empowered the big labs — disempowering Europe and, long-term, humanity. He questions why academia, non-profits, open-source and governments (especially in the UK and Europe) are still participating, and runs a poll on the reasons. The post captures a growing intra-alignment-community reckoning with its symbiotic relationship with frontier labs.
Related event: Scholars blast AI safety work as product engineering for big labs(3 posts)→
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