That’s a fair perspective. One last thing I’ll note is that even seemingly permissive constraints can make a huge difference from the perspective of the AI utility calculus. If I ask it to maximise paperclips, then the upper utility bound is defined by the amount of matter in the universe. Capping utility at a trillion paperclips doesn’t affect us much (too many would flood the market anyway), but it reduces the expected utility of an AI takeover by like 50 orders of magnitude. Putting in a time limit, even if it’s like 100 years, would have the same effect. Seems like a no-brainer.
That’s a fair perspective. One last thing I’ll note is that even seemingly permissive constraints can make a huge difference from the perspective of the AI utility calculus. If I ask it to maximise paperclips, then the upper utility bound is defined by the amount of matter in the universe. Capping utility at a trillion paperclips doesn’t affect us much (too many would flood the market anyway), but it reduces the expected utility of an AI takeover by like 50 orders of magnitude. Putting in a time limit, even if it’s like 100 years, would have the same effect. Seems like a no-brainer.