Wei’s list focused on ethics and decision theory, but I think that it would be most valuable to have more good conceptual analysis of the arguments for why AI safety matters, and particularly the role of concepts like “agency”, “intelligence”, and “goal-directed behaviour”. While it’d be easier to tackle these given some knowledge of machine learning, I don’t think that background is necessary—clarity of thought is probably the most important thing.
Wei’s list focused on ethics and decision theory, but I think that it would be most valuable to have more good conceptual analysis of the arguments for why AI safety matters, and particularly the role of concepts like “agency”, “intelligence”, and “goal-directed behaviour”. While it’d be easier to tackle these given some knowledge of machine learning, I don’t think that background is necessary—clarity of thought is probably the most important thing.