Hard to know the full story but for me this is a weak update against CAIS’s judgment.
Right now CAIS is one out of a total of maybe two orgs (along with FLI) pushing for AI legislation that both (1) openly care about x-risk and (2) are sufficiently Respectable TM* to get funding from big donors. This move could be an attempt to maintain CAIS’s image as Respectable TM. My guess is it’s the wrong move but I have a lot of uncertainty. I think firing people due to public pressure is generally a bad idea although I’m not confident that that’s what actually happened.
*I hope my capitalization makes this clear but to be explicit, I don’t think Respectable TM is the same thing as “actually respectable”. For example, MIRI is actually respectable, but isn’t Respectable TM.
Edit: I just re-read the CAIS tweet, from the wording it is clear that CAIS meant one of two things: “We are bowing to public pressure” or “We didn’t realize John Sherman would say things like this, and we consider it a fireable offense”. Neither one is a good look IMO.
Hard to know the full story but for me this is a weak update against CAIS’s judgment.
Right now CAIS is one out of a total of maybe two orgs (along with FLI) pushing for AI legislation that both (1) openly care about x-risk and (2) are sufficiently Respectable TM* to get funding from big donors. This move could be an attempt to maintain CAIS’s image as Respectable TM. My guess is it’s the wrong move but I have a lot of uncertainty. I think firing people due to public pressure is generally a bad idea although I’m not confident that that’s what actually happened.
*I hope my capitalization makes this clear but to be explicit, I don’t think Respectable TM is the same thing as “actually respectable”. For example, MIRI is actually respectable, but isn’t Respectable TM.
Edit: I just re-read the CAIS tweet, from the wording it is clear that CAIS meant one of two things: “We are bowing to public pressure” or “We didn’t realize John Sherman would say things like this, and we consider it a fireable offense”. Neither one is a good look IMO.