Executive summary: Despite frequent comparisons between biorisk and AI risk, the disanalogies between these two areas of catastrophic or existential risk are much more compelling than the analogies.
Key points:
Pathogens have a well-defined attack surface (human bodies), while AI risks have a nearly unlimited attack surface, including computer systems, infrastructure, and social and economic systems.
Mitigation efforts for pandemics are well-funded and established, with international treaties and norms, while AI risk mitigation is poorly understood, underfunded, and lacks clear standards or laws.
Disease reporting and data collection standards exist for biorisk, along with protocols for safely working with pathogens, while AI lacks reporting standards, a central body to handle reports, or requirements to follow safety standards.
Despite the disanalogies, comparing biorisk and AI risk can still be a useful analytic tool, as long as the limitations of direct comparisons are understood.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: Despite frequent comparisons between biorisk and AI risk, the disanalogies between these two areas of catastrophic or existential risk are much more compelling than the analogies.
Key points:
Pathogens have a well-defined attack surface (human bodies), while AI risks have a nearly unlimited attack surface, including computer systems, infrastructure, and social and economic systems.
Mitigation efforts for pandemics are well-funded and established, with international treaties and norms, while AI risk mitigation is poorly understood, underfunded, and lacks clear standards or laws.
Disease reporting and data collection standards exist for biorisk, along with protocols for safely working with pathogens, while AI lacks reporting standards, a central body to handle reports, or requirements to follow safety standards.
Despite the disanalogies, comparing biorisk and AI risk can still be a useful analytic tool, as long as the limitations of direct comparisons are understood.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.