Cody Fenwick

1 month ago | 80000hours.org | Cody Fenwick

Why is this a pressing problem? New technologies can drastically shift the balance of power in society. Great Britain’s early dominance in the Industrial Revolution, for example, helped empower its global empire.1With AI technology rapidly advancing, there’s a serious risk that it might enable an even more extreme global power grab. Advanced AI is particularly concerning because it could be controlled by a small number of people, or even just one.

2 months ago | 80000hours.org | Cody Fenwick

By · Published April 4th, 2025 · SummaryThe proliferation of advanced AI systems may lead to the gradual disempowerment of humanity, even if efforts to prevent them from becoming power-seeking or scheming are successful. Humanity may be incentivised to hand over increasing amounts of control to AIs, giving them power over the economy, politics, culture, and more.

2 months ago | 80000hours.org | Cody Fenwick

By · Published March 14th, 2025 · This week, let’s review key trends in the jobs we’ve found that may help mitigate AI risk, including:Growth in the number of postings in the fieldThe types of organisations that are hiringThe most in-demand skillsThe experience level required for these rolesWe’ve ranked catastrophic risks from AI as the world’s most pressing problem since 2016, but it’s only in the last few years that the topic has really hit the mainstream.

Jan 3, 2025 | 80000hours.org | Cody Fenwick

By · Published January 3rd, 2025 · The idea this week: despite claims of stagnation, AI research still advanced rapidly in 2024. Some people say AI research has plateaued. But a lot of evidence from the last year points in the opposite direction:New capabilities were developed and emergedResearch indicates existing AI can accelerate scienceAnd at the same time, important findings about AI safety and risk came out (). AI advances might still stall.

Dec 20, 2024 | 80000hours.org | Cody Fenwick

By · Published December 20th, 2024 · This week, we’re looking back at some of our top content from the year!Here are some of our favourite and most important articles, posts, and podcast episodes we published in 2024:Factory farming — There’s a clear candidate for the biggest moral mistake that humanity is currently making: factory farming. We raise and slaughter 1.6-4.5 trillion animals a year on factory farms, causing tremendous amounts of suffering.