Could AI Help Solve Philosophy? (with Wei Dai)

June 19
59 mins

View Transcript

Episode Description

Wei Dai is a computer engineer known for his work in cryptography and cryptocurrency systems, and for his long-standing contributions to AI safety, decision theory, and metaphilosophy.

He joined Forethought’s Fin Moorhouse to discuss:

  • Do we need to solve ‘metaphilosophy’ before we can trust AIs to answer crucial questions about the long-run future?
  • Is it inevitable that the wisdom of the frontier AIs (their philosophical and strategic competence) will lag dangerously behind their raw capabilities in coding, math, and science?
  • How do status games distort morally important decisions and conversations, including about the future of AI?
  • How worried should we be about AI superpersuasion?
  • The concept of “illegible problems”: crucially important issues that aren’t on almost anyone’s radar
  • Is philosophical convergence necessary for a good future, or is institutional design enough?
  • Wei Dai’s personal intellectual and career journey

To respect Wei’s privacy, this episode’s audio is an AI narration of a transcript of a real conversation, which was edited for clarity.

You can read a full transcript here.

To see all Forethought's published research, visit forethought.org/research.

To subscribe to our newsletter, visit forethought.org/subscribe.

See all episodes