Respectful dialogue will create the conditions for an AI pause
Let's build peaceful coordination grounded in solutions not despair
PauseAI is striving to build a safer, more peaceful world: one where the risk of violence and harm is diminished, not emboldened. Acts of violence, like the attacks on Sam Altman and his home, stand antithetical to PauseAI and its objectives, but more to the point, they are morally wrong.
PauseAI’s approach is to grow a peaceful movement, at the heart of which is its community – a community that is encouraged to be open, respectful and welcoming, and to act in good faith. We strive to channel citizens’ engagement around values grounded in a desire to keep all of us safe from the catastrophic risks posed by AI and the belief that respectful dialogue will lay the foundations for a pause.
The catastrophic risks of AI are real
A growing number of AI developers continue to voice their concern about the AI extinction risk; current and former employees at OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic published an open letter warning of a lack of safety oversight, calling on their companies to take AI safety seriously.
An Anthropic statement published last week stated, “We find it alarming that the world looks on track to proceed rapidly to developing superhuman systems without stronger mechanisms in place for ensuring adequate safety across the industry as a whole.”
Many in the industry believe they are trapped in an AI race they cannot stop. We know this not only because of the public testimonies of whistleblowers but also because some of these people are at the heart of PauseAI. PauseAI’s CEO, and many of its staff and volunteers, are computer engineers and machine learning specialists who spent years in the industry - an industry they abandoned after AI’s dangerous trajectory dawned on them.
A trusted AI safety movement is needed now more than ever
PauseAI works to bring all stakeholders to the table - citizens, civil society, politicians and industry - through democratic means, including through protest and dialogue. But the sense of urgency propelled by the pace of AI development is intensifying discussions.
Some people - fearful of the consequences of inaction - feel deeply disempowered, having lost faith in the democratic process. At its worst, this can result in acts of violence, which we hold to be fundamentally unacceptable.
We understand that some people may feel a sense of desperation. But alongside our communication of the catastrophic risks of AI we offer a vision of hope; one in which democratic means are the vehicles to achieve our aims. We are not so-called doomers: we believe a pause in the development of frontier AI systems is entirely achievable.
Peaceful AI safety movements like ours play an important role in not only a functioning democracy but, more importantly, in making us safer. At the very least, we are shining attention on the risks associated with this technology - risks that even the most ardent AI optimist admits could materialise.
PauseAI lays the foundations for dialogue
Decision makers are learning about the risks of AI - sometimes through their constituents who support PauseAI, sometimes through our campaigns or events - and are consequently deciding to take a stand for AI safety. We believe our approach is making a difference and showing that lawful and peaceful initiatives are the way to go.
As a nascent organisation we are still finding our feet and have much to learn about how to best garner support and achieve our aims. The reason we don’t advocate personal attacks and fan the flames of antagonism is not because it doesn’t support our goals but because we believe this approach to be unethical. We are striving to build a community that builds trust and dialogue among all stakeholders.
Across all its platforms and interactions, PauseAI tries to create a culture that is welcoming to newcomers, one in which dialogue is constructive and well mannered, and all individuals are treated with respect. It is such a culture, we believe, that will lay the foundations upon which decision makers will eventually come together and implement a robust solution to catastrophic AI risk.
Our views echo scientific consensus
PauseAI is far from alone in its concern over the development of AI. Sam Altman himself has said, “If we get this wrong, it could be lights out for all of us.” We are joined by other CEOs – including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and xAI’s Elon Musk. We are joined by decision makers throughout the globe - including members of the US Congress and Members of the European Parliament.
Crucially, we are joined by the scientific community.
Nobel Prize laureate & Godfather of modern AI, Geoffrey Hinton, thinks there is a “10 percent to 20 percent chance” AI will lead to human extinction within three decades, while Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley and author of the textbook used to train virtually every AI researcher globally insists, “We are on a trajectory towards a loss of control.”
Russell is hopeful that the crucial decision makers will come together and agree on a mechanism that brings AI under control - he said so in a recent interview with PauseAI. We are here to usher stakeholders towards this objective and to create the conditions for productive dialogue.
Our promise is that we will always strive to be respectful and evidence-based, and to act in good faith. It is these principles that will ultimately guide us towards responsible action and a safer society.
Violence will not solve the problem: the race.
This is incredibly important. Keep focussing on the best way to achieve the outcome, and remind yourself and others to keep emotion out of it. Ironically to defeat the race to ASI you have to think like AI and follow the best path to achieve the goal