Page Type:ContentStyle Guide →Standard knowledge base article
Quality:60 (Good)⚠️
Importance:78.5 (High)
Last edited:2025-12-26 (5 weeks ago)
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📊 25📈 2🔗 44📚 0•2%Score: 12/15
LLM Summary:Maps how three belief dimensions (timelines, alignment difficulty, coordination feasibility) create four worldview clusters with 2-10x differences in optimal intervention priorities, finding that 20-50% of field resources may be wasted due to worldview-work mismatches. Provides specific ROI estimates for interventions under each worldview (e.g., pause advocacy: 10x for doomers vs -2x for optimists) and portfolio strategies for uncertainty.
Critical Insights (4):
Counterint.Different AI risk worldviews imply 2-10x differences in optimal intervention priorities, with pause advocacy having 10x+ ROI under 'doomer' assumptions but negative ROI under 'accelerationist' worldviews.S:4.5I:4.5A:4.5
Quant.Misalignment between researchers' beliefs and their work focus wastes 20-50% of AI safety field resources, with common patterns like 'short timelines' researchers doing field-building losing 3-5x effectiveness.S:4.0I:4.5A:4.0
Quant.Only 15-20% of AI safety researchers hold 'doomer' worldviews (short timelines + hard alignment) but they receive ~30% of resources, while governance-focused researchers (25-30% of field) are significantly under-resourced at ~20% allocation.S:3.5I:4.0A:4.0
Issues (1):
QualityRated 60 but structure suggests 80 (underrated by 20 points)
This model maps how beliefs about AI risk create distinct worldview clusters with dramatically different intervention priorities. Different worldviews imply 2-10x differences in optimal resource allocation across pause advocacy, technical research, and governance work.
The model identifies that misalignment between personal beliefs and work focus may waste 20-50% of field resources. AI safety researchers↗📄 paper★★★★☆AnthropicAnthropic's Work on AI SafetyAnthropic conducts research across multiple domains including AI alignment, interpretability, and societal impacts to develop safer and more responsible AI technologies. Their w...alignmentinterpretabilitysafetysoftware-engineering+1Source ↗Notes hold fundamentally different assumptions about timelines, technical difficulty, and coordination feasibility, but these differences often don’t translate to coherent intervention choices.
The framework reveals four major worldview clusters - from “doomer” (short timelines + hard alignment) prioritizing pause advocacy, to “technical optimist” (medium timelines + tractable alignment) emphasizing research investment.
Given your beliefs about AI risk, which interventions should you prioritize?
The core problem: People work on interventions that don’t match their stated beliefs about AI development. This model makes explicit which interventions are most valuable under specific worldview assumptions.
AGI within 5 years; scaling continues; few obstacles
Little time for institutional change; must work with existing structures
Amodei prediction↗🔗 web★★★★☆AnthropicAmodei predictionprioritizationworldviewstrategySource ↗Notes of powerful AI by 2026-2027
Medium (2030-2040)
Transformative AI in 10-15 years; surmountable obstacles
Time for institution-building; research can mature
Metaculus consensus↗🔗 web★★★☆☆MetaculusMetaculusMetaculus is an online forecasting platform that allows users to predict future events and trends across areas like AI, biosecurity, and climate change. It provides probabilisti...biosecurityprioritizationworldviewstrategy+1Source ↗Notes ≈2032 for AGI
Long (2040+)
Major obstacles remain; slow takeoff; decades available
Full institutional development possible; fundamental research valuable
MIRI position↗🔗 web★★★☆☆MIRIMIRI positionprioritizationworldviewstrategySource ↗Notes on alignment difficulty
Alignment fundamentally unsolved; deception likely; current techniques inadequate
Technical solutions insufficient; need to slow/stop development
Scheming research↗🔗 web★★★★☆AnthropicScheming researchdeceptionprioritizationworldviewstrategySource ↗Notes shows deception possible
Medium
Alignment difficult but tractable; techniques improve with scale
Technical research highly valuable; sustained investment needed
Constitutional AI↗📄 paper★★★★☆AnthropicConstitutional AI: Harmlessness from AI FeedbackAnthropic introduces a novel approach to AI training called Constitutional AI, which uses self-critique and AI feedback to develop safer, more principled AI systems without exte...safetytrainingx-riskirreversibility+1Source ↗Notes shows promise
Beliefs: Short timelines + Hard alignment + Coordination difficult
Intervention Category
Priority
Expected ROI
Key Advocates
Pause/slowdown advocacy
Very High
10x+ if successful
Eliezer YudkowskyResearcherEliezer YudkowskyComprehensive biographical profile of Eliezer Yudkowsky covering his foundational contributions to AI safety (CEV, early problem formulation, agent foundations) and notably pessimistic views (>90% ...Quality: 35/100
MIRIOrganizationMIRIComprehensive organizational history documenting MIRI's trajectory from pioneering AI safety research (2000-2020) to policy advocacy after acknowledging research failure, with detailed financial da...Quality: 50/100 approach
International coordination
Medium
8x if achieved (low prob)
FHI governance work↗🔗 web★★★★☆Future of Humanity Institute**Future of Humanity Institute**talentfield-buildingcareer-transitionsrisk-interactions+1Source ↗Notes
Coherence Check: If you believe this worldview but work on field-building or long-term institution design, your work may be misaligned with your beliefs.
Beliefs: Medium timelines + Medium difficulty + Coordination possible
Intervention Category
Priority
Expected ROI
Leading Organizations
Technical safety research
Very High
8-12x via direct solutions
AnthropicLabAnthropicComprehensive profile of Anthropic tracking its rapid commercial growth (from $1B to $7B annualized revenue in 2025, 42% enterprise coding market share) alongside safety research (Constitutional AI...Quality: 51/100, RedwoodOrganizationRedwood ResearchRedwood Research is an AI safety lab founded in 2021 that has made significant contributions to mechanistic interpretability and, more recently, pioneered the "AI control" research agenda.
InterpretabilitySafety AgendaInterpretabilityMechanistic interpretability has extracted 34M+ interpretable features from Claude 3 Sonnet with 90% automated labeling accuracy and demonstrated 75-85% success in causal validation, though less th...Quality: 66/100
Very High
6-10x via understanding
Chris Olah’s workResearcherChris OlahBiographical overview of Chris Olah's career trajectory from Google Brain to co-founding Anthropic, focusing on his pioneering work in mechanistic interpretability including feature visualization, ...Quality: 27/100
Lab safety standards
High
4-6x via industry norms
Partnership on AI↗🔗 webPartnership on AIA nonprofit organization focused on responsible AI development by convening technology companies, civil society, and academic institutions. PAI develops guidelines and framework...foundation-modelstransformersscalingsocial-engineering+1Source ↗Notes
Compute governance
Medium
3-5x supplementary value
CSET↗🔗 web★★★★☆CSET GeorgetownCSET: AI Market DynamicsI apologize, but the provided content appears to be a fragmentary collection of references or headlines rather than a substantive document that can be comprehensively analyzed. ...prioritizationresource-allocationportfolioescalation+1Source ↗Notes research
Pause advocacy
Low
1x or negative (unnecessary)
Premature intervention
Field-building
High
5-8x via capacity
CHAILab AcademicCHAICHAI is UC Berkeley's AI safety research center founded by Stuart Russell in 2016, pioneering cooperative inverse reinforcement learning and human-compatible AI frameworks. The center has trained 3...Quality: 37/100, MATS↗🔗 webMATS Research ProgramMATS is an intensive training program that helps researchers transition into AI safety, providing mentorship, funding, and community support. Since 2021, over 446 researchers ha...safetytrainingtalentfield-building+1Source ↗Notes
Coherence Check: If you believe this worldview but work on pause advocacy or aggressive regulation, your efforts may be counterproductive.
Beliefs: Medium-long timelines + Medium difficulty + Coordination feasible
Intervention Category
Priority
Expected ROI
Key Institutions
International coordination
Very High
10-15x via global governance
UK AISIOrganizationUK AI Safety InstituteThe UK AI Safety Institute (renamed AI Security Institute in Feb 2025) operates with ~30 technical staff and 50M GBP annual budget, conducting frontier model evaluations using its open-source Inspe...Quality: 52/100, US AISIOrganizationUS AI Safety InstituteThe US AI Safety Institute (AISI), established November 2023 within NIST with $10M budget (FY2025 request $82.7M), conducted pre-deployment evaluations of frontier models through MOUs with OpenAI a...Quality: 91/100
Domestic regulation
Very High
6-10x via norm-setting
EU AI Act↗🔗 web★★★★☆European UnionEU AI Officecapabilitythresholdrisk-assessmentdefense+1Source ↗Notes
Institution-building
Very High
8-12x via capacity
AI Safety Institute↗🏛️ government★★★★☆UK AI Safety InstituteAI Safety Institutesafetysoftware-engineeringcode-generationprogramming-ai+1Source ↗Notes development
Technical standards
High
4-6x enabling governance
NIST AI RMF↗🏛️ government★★★★★NISTNIST AI Risk Management Frameworksoftware-engineeringcode-generationprogramming-aifoundation-models+1Source ↗Notes
Technical research
Medium
3-5x (others lead)
Research coordination role
Pause advocacy
Low
1-2x premature
Governance development first
Coherence Check: If you believe this worldview but focus purely on technical research, you may be underutilizing comparative advantage.
The following analysis shows how intervention effectiveness varies dramatically across worldviews:
Intervention
Short+Hard (Doomer)
Short+Tractable (Sprint)
Long+Hard (Patient)
Long+Tractable (Optimist)
Pause/slowdown
Very High (10x)
Low (1x)
Medium (4x)
Very Low (-2x)
Compute governance
Very High (8x)
Medium (3x)
High (6x)
Low (1x)
Alignment research
High (3x)
Low (2x)
Very High (12x)
Low (1x)
InterpretabilitySafety AgendaInterpretabilityMechanistic interpretability has extracted 34M+ interpretable features from Claude 3 Sonnet with 90% automated labeling accuracy and demonstrated 75-85% success in causal validation, though less th...Quality: 66/100
Based on AI Alignment Forum↗✏️ blog★★★☆☆Alignment ForumAI Alignment Forumalignmenttalentfield-buildingcareer-transitions+1Source ↗Notes surveys and 80,000 Hours↗🔗 web★★★☆☆80,000 Hours80,000 Hours methodologyprioritizationresource-allocationportfoliotalent+1Source ↗Notes career advising:
80,000 Hours research↗🔗 web★★★☆☆80,000 Hours80,000 Hours AI Safety Career GuideThe 80,000 Hours AI Safety Career Guide argues that future AI systems could develop power-seeking behaviors that threaten human existence. The guide outlines potential risks and...safetyprioritizationworldviewstrategySource ↗Notes
MIRIOrganizationMIRIComprehensive organizational history documenting MIRI's trajectory from pioneering AI safety research (2000-2020) to policy advocacy after acknowledging research failure, with detailed financial da...Quality: 50/100
Doomer (short+hard)
Agent foundations, pause advocacy
AnthropicLabAnthropicComprehensive profile of Anthropic tracking its rapid commercial growth (from $1B to $7B annualized revenue in 2025, 42% enterprise coding market share) alongside safety research (Constitutional AI...Quality: 51/100
Technical optimist
Constitutional AI, interpretability
CSET↗🔗 web★★★★☆CSET GeorgetownCSET: AI Market DynamicsI apologize, but the provided content appears to be a fragmentary collection of references or headlines rather than a substantive document that can be comprehensively analyzed. ...prioritizationresource-allocationportfolioescalation+1Source ↗Notes
Governance-focused
Policy research, international coordination
Redwood ResearchOrganizationRedwood ResearchRedwood Research is an AI safety lab founded in 2021 that has made significant contributions to mechanistic interpretability and, more recently, pioneered the "AI control" research agenda.
AI Risk Portfolio AnalysisModelAI Risk Portfolio AnalysisQuantitative framework for AI safety resource allocation based on 2024 funding data ($110-130M external). Recommends misalignment 40-70% of x-risk (50-60% funding allocation for medium timelines), ...Quality: 66/100 - Risk category prioritization across scenarios
Racing DynamicsRiskRacing DynamicsRacing dynamics analysis shows competitive pressure has shortened safety evaluation timelines by 40-60% since ChatGPT's launch, with commercial labs reducing safety work from 12 weeks to 4-6 weeks....Quality: 72/100 - How competition affects coordination feasibility
International Coordination GameModelInternational Coordination Game ModelGame-theoretic analysis demonstrates that US-China AI coordination faces Nash equilibrium at mutual defection (2,2 payoff) rather than Pareto-optimal cooperation (4,4), with defection dominating ma...Quality: 62/100 - Factors affecting cooperation
Doomer WorldviewDoomerComprehensive overview of the 'doomer' worldview on AI risk, characterized by 30-90% P(doom) estimates, 10-15 year AGI timelines, and belief that alignment is fundamentally hard. Documents core arg...Quality: 38/100 - Short timelines, hard alignment assumptions
Governance-Focused WorldviewGovernance FocusedThis worldview argues governance/coordination is the bottleneck for AI safety (not just technical solutions), estimating 10-30% P(doom) by 2100. Evidence includes: compute export controls reduced H...Quality: 67/100 - Coordination optimism, institution-building focus
Long Timelines WorldviewLong TimelinesComprehensive overview of the long-timelines worldview (20-40+ years to AGI, 5-20% P(doom)), arguing for foundational research over rushed solutions based on historical AI overoptimism, current sys...Quality: 91/100 - Patient capital, fundamental research emphasis