Research Program

Recent publications

Prior Publications

Software

Publications in Progress

  • Eliezer Yudkowsky is writing a book on rationality, reductionism, and other prerequisites for thinking well about AI and Singularity outcomes. The book is targeted at bright students who may later contribute to Friendly AI research. Large parts of what will be the book are online in the form of sequences of posts at the rationality website Less Wrong.
  • Eliezer Yudkowsky and other contributors to Less Wrong have been working on decision theory. They have been investigating frameworks by which agents with beliefs and goals may represent different possible actions and the consequences of those actions, and how the agents go from there to making decisions. This is especially relevant in the context of an AI fully capable of changing its own goal structure; knowing what decision theories are stable in such situations is one theoretical component needed for the construction of predictably safe AIs. Yudkowsky's "Timeless Decision Theory" is described in a few Less Wrong posts, as well as in an unpublished manuscript. Wei Dai and Vladimir Nesov have posted on "Updateless Decision Theory." Gary Drescher, the author of Good And Real, has also commented. Plans are being floated to write up timeless decision theory as an academic paper.
  • Work is currently proceeding on the Peter Platzer Popular Book Planning Project, the Peter Platzer Conference Grants, and two academic papers(Digital Intelligences and the Evolution of Superorganisms, and Machine Ethics and Superintelligence.)
  • As of the 2010 Singularity Research Challenge, we have begun writing grant proposals for many potential papers. If you're interested in collaborating on one of these papers, or have ideas for another paper, please contact anna at singinst dot org.