About

This project was born out of a shared frustration over the polarized discourse on AI, which has devolved into a standoff between accelerationists and doomers. Similar uncompromising positions were popular in the early days of television, computers, nuclear power, and the internet. Like these earlier technological innovations, the reality of AI's potential impact is more nuanced. We believe there is an urgent need for computer scientists to take a more active role in both steering the research agenda and shaping the narrative. Rather than simply predict what the impact of AI will be given a laissez-faire approach, our goal is to propose what the impact could be given directed efforts to maximize the upsides and minimize the downsides.

Our work is not done; we hope to recruit others to join this conversation. Achieving AI's potential in different domains will require a combination of domain experts, AI experts, policymakers, users of the technology in the domain, and other stakeholders to all come together to work towards solutions that empower people, bring new capabilities, and harness the power of AI for the public good.