The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is facing an internal crisis as staff members and scientists have threatened to resign over the anticipated appointment of Paul Christiano to a crucial, though non-political, position at the agencyâs newly-formed US AI Safety Institute (AISI), according to at least two sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous.
I donât know, threatening to resign is a pretty concrete thing and I donât find ârevoltâ such an exaggeration. You can doubt the sources and wish for more concrete evidence (a letter?), but Iâd still put >50% that itâs broadly correct
EDIT: okay thereâs a clear ambiguity about how many people are threatening to resign, in a way that if itâs only 1 or 2, itâs clearly misleading.
Perhaps I am overestimating how worried a source might be that their organisation traces a leak back to them if itâs known that someone from within the organisation provided it.
I donât really see anything in the article to support the headline claim, and the anonymous sources donât actually work at NIST, do they?
I donât know, threatening to resign is a pretty concrete thing and I donât find ârevoltâ such an exaggeration. You can doubt the sources and wish for more concrete evidence (a letter?), but Iâd still put >50% that itâs broadly correct
EDIT: okay thereâs a clear ambiguity about how many people are threatening to resign, in a way that if itâs only 1 or 2, itâs clearly misleading.
Agreed, the evidence is solely, âaccording to at least two sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous.â
That is still consistent with them working at NIST
I think the argument is that if they did work at NIST then the article would have included that, so we can infer the very likely donât?
Perhaps I am overestimating how worried a source might be that their organisation traces a leak back to them if itâs known that someone from within the organisation provided it.