Hi, I'm Des.

This site is a way for me to track observations about ML / AI research.

I made it for you too though, whoever you are, interested in the same topics. I hope you find it useful.

How can I get updates about posts?

New posts are announced on Twitter — @k_nearest.

There is also an RSS feed.

What does the name  "AI Breakout"  mean?

The name is just for fun — I like to think it's referring to the idea of AI systems escaping their containers. It seems like a fantastical idea, but eventually that might be a thing that can happen ... who knows when?

I'm optimistic about Alignment. I do take much of X-risk seriously but I think we should have an optimistic disposition. With the right care we should probably be striving to make systems capable enough that they may one day "break out" into the world on their own, maybe like babies cleverly escaping their cribs:

We're not there yet obviously.

It seems funny now but if an "AI breakout" eventually does happen, hopefully it won't be something with high costs in terms of money or human lives lost — because then it would make it seem like my choice of an italic font for the logo here was done in poor taste.