I bet it is! The example categories I think I had in mind at time of writing would be 1) people in ML academia who want to be doing safety instead doing work that almost entirely accelerates capabilities and 2) people who want to work on reducing biological risk instead publish on tech which is highly dual use or broadly accelerates biotechnology without deferentially accelerating safety technology.
I know this happens because I’ve done it. My most successful publication to date (https://​​www.nature.com/​​articles/​​s41592-019-0598-1) is pretty much entirely capabilities accelerating. I’m still not sure if it was the right call to do this project, but if it is, it will have been a narrow edge revolving on me using the cred I got from this to do something really good later on.
Could you be a bit more specific about this point? This sounds very field-dependent.
I bet it is! The example categories I think I had in mind at time of writing would be 1) people in ML academia who want to be doing safety instead doing work that almost entirely accelerates capabilities and 2) people who want to work on reducing biological risk instead publish on tech which is highly dual use or broadly accelerates biotechnology without deferentially accelerating safety technology.
I know this happens because I’ve done it. My most successful publication to date (https://​​www.nature.com/​​articles/​​s41592-019-0598-1) is pretty much entirely capabilities accelerating. I’m still not sure if it was the right call to do this project, but if it is, it will have been a narrow edge revolving on me using the cred I got from this to do something really good later on.