Noa Weiss

AI/ML Researcher · AI Safety · Alt Proteins

Formerly @NWeiss (account deleted, this is the new home)

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

If you happened to hop on AI Twitter in the last couple of weeks, you probably saw the much-discussed "pain-axis paper": @camhberg , @ValenTagliabue and @LeonardDung1 found a "pain" direction inside AI models. Steer it up, and the models will pay for relief, even if it means deleting photos of the user's children. Swap the relief button for a placebo, and they keep on pressing. They also provide verbal descriptions of their supposed suffering, which are honestly quite hard to read.

Do the models actually feel said "pain"? We don't know yet. But the study is a clear illustration of what I argue in my latest @Haaretz piece, now translated to English*: whether there's anyone home inside these systems is a question we can - and should - actually research.

And it very much matters. If there's even a shred of experience in there, we're creating, copying and deleting feeling beings at an industrial pace, in as many copies as demand calls for. The scope of the moral question is set not by nature, but by commercial considerations - and we need to get ahead of it before it's too late to change course.

(The pain-axis paper itself isn't in the piece, as it annoyingly came out only a few hours after I submitted my final draft. Writing about AI for print is a futile pursuit.)

* Translation is mostly by Claude, with some corrections by your humble servant. Please keep expectations low.

https://t.co/cQP5okmvSx

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@bicellaria Claude has failed to tell me anything I didn't know yet!

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

Back in the U.S. and jet lag is hitting me hard. Give me your best jet lag advice.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@RosieCampbell Lol. Well done.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@JeffLadish No.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@BogdanIonutCir2 @davidchalmers42 Ask and you shall receive: https://t.co/VHdqbzQDDx

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

#lifegoals: presenting my approach to AI consciousness research to consciousness science legend @davidchalmers42 .

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@joshcmorrison @NathanpmYoung “I don’t fully agree with Macklemore’s politics but I don’t think it’s ok for stadium owners to get to dictate whether musicians do speeches about their politics while performing at said stadiums”, actually.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

What is it like to be this bat.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@jeffrsebo Prof. Sebo, you crack me up.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

Note to self: if you go on a 1:1 with @jeffrsebo he *will* stop and take a picture whenever a cute creature pops by.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

Just when you think Twitter can't get more crazy

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@jeffrsebo That is a much more optimistic take than mine.

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@jeffrsebo @nonhumanminds The event of the year!

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@AmeliaBarty I, too, would like us to avoid the AI apocalypse. (AI researcher, woman). Is that enough, or do I need to perform histrionics?

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@birchlse Still only a handful of jobs, though?

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@NathanpmYoung 1. Is the offer limited to British politicians or journalists
2. Does it have to be about AI risk

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

I, too, would like us to avoid the AI apocalypse. (AI researcher, woman).

Is that enough, @AmeliaBarty , or do I need to perform histrionics?

[Neel Nanda @NeelNanda5]

Since apparently people care about this, I'm happy to go on the record as an Indian AI researcher who is freaked out about the AI apocalypse

[Noa Weiss @NoaWeissAI]

@LinchZhang @AmeliaBarty @LinchZhang do you identify an a nerdy white boy