AI-2027 author Kokotajlo shares Ellsberg's 1968 warning on how secret clearances warp judgment
DKokotajlo · x · 2026-11-06
Daniel Kokotajlo urges frontier AI company staff to read Ellsberg's 1968 advice to Kissinger about receiving special clearances. The quote describes a psychological arc: exhilaration at secret knowledge, two weeks of feeling like a fool for having analyzed without it, then growing contempt for the uninformed. Only after years do you learn the intelligence is often inaccurate. Worst of all, you become unable to listen to outsiders, mentally simulating what they'd say if they knew what you know—until you simply stop listening. Kokotajlo's implicit point: non-public model capability info at frontier labs may distort judgment the same way.
More from AGI Musings
- World models can 'see into' any drawing, photo or render: a computer graphics renaissance — XRarchitect · 2026-11-06
- Eli Lifland: A 2x Progress Rate by Dec 2026 Means Roughly 4.5x Capability Uplift — inductionheads · 2026-11-06
- Rethinking predoc interviews in the AI era: agent transcripts and blindfolded video tests — aniketapanjwani · 2026-11-06
- MOSAIC agent swarm discovers fractional Chern insulator gaps 10x beyond ideal quantum geometry — BenBlaiszik · 2026-11-06
- Paul Graham: schools reward bloated essays, which is why good writing is rare — paulnovosad · 2026-11-06
- Coding 'coming to a close'? X debate says AI engineering era begins — TheTuringPost · 2026-11-06