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Show Notes

Wendell Wallach has been at the forefront of contemporary emerging technology issues for decades now. As an interdisciplinary thinker, he has engaged at the intersections of ethics, governance, AI, bioethics, robotics, and philosophy since the beginning formulations of what we now know as AI alignment were being codified. Wendell began with a broad interest in the ethics of emerging technology and has since become focused on machine ethics and AI governance. This conversation with Wendell explores his intellectual journey and participation in these fields.

Topics discussed in this episode include:

• Wendell’s intellectual journey in machine ethics and AI governance
• The history of machine ethics and alignment considerations
• How machine ethics and AI alignment serve to produce beneficial AI
• Soft law and hard law for shaping AI governance
• Wendell’s and broader efforts for the global governance of AI
• Social and political mechanisms for mitigating the risks of AI
• Wendell’s forthcoming book

Key points from Wendell:

• "So when you were talking about machine ethics or when we were talking about machine ethics, we were really thinking about it in terms of just how do you introduce ethical procedures so that when machines encounter new situations, particularly when the designers can't fully predict what their actions will be, that they factor in ethical considerations as they choose between various courses of action. So we were really talking about very basic program in the machines, but we weren't just thinking of it in terms of the basics. We were thinking of it in terms of the evolution of smart machines... What we encounter in the Singularity Institute, now MIRI for artificial intelligence approach of friendly AI and what became value alignment is more or less a presumption of very high order intelligence capabilities by the system and how you would ensure that their values align with those of the machines. They tended to start from that level. So that was the distinction. Where the machine ethics folks did look at those futuristic concerns, they did more so from a philosophical level and at least a belief or appreciation that this is going to be a relatively evolutionary course, whereby the friendly AI and value alignment folks, they tended to presume that we're going to have very high order cognitive capabilities and how do we ensure that those align with the systems. Now, the convergence, I would say, is what's happening right now because in workshops that have been organized around the societal and ethical impact of intelligent systems."
• "My sense has been that with both machine ethics and value alignment, we've sort of got the cart in front of the horse. So I'm waiting to see some great implementation breakthroughs, I just haven't seen them. Most of the time, when I encounter researchers who say they're taking seriously, I see they're tripping over relatively low level implementations. The difficulty is here, and all of this is converging. What AI alignment was initially and what it's becoming now I think are quite different. I think in the very early days, it really was presumptions that you would have these higher order intelligences and then how were you going to align them. Now, as AI alignment, people look at the value issues as they intersect with present day AI agendas. I realize that you can't make the presumptions about the higher order systems without going through developmental steps to get there. So, in that sense, I think whether it's AI alignment or machine ethics, the one will absorb the lessons of the other. Both will utilize advances that happen on both fronts."
• "David Collingridge wrote a book where he outlined a problem that is now known as the Collingridge Dilemma. Basically, Collingridge said that while it was easiest to regulate a technology early in its style development, early in its development, we had a little idea of what its societal impact would be. By the time we did understand what the challenges from the societal impact were, the technology would be so deeply entrenched in our society that it would be very difficult to change its trajectory. So we see that today with social media. Social media was totally entrenched in our society before we realized how it could be manipulated in ways that would undermine democracy. Now we're having a devil of a time of figuring out what we could do. So Gary and I, who had been talking about these kinds of problems for years, we realized that we were constantly lamenting the challenge, but we altered the conversation one day over a cup of coffee. We said, "Well, if we had our druthers, if we have some degree of influence, what would we propose?" We came up with a model that we referred to as governance coordinating committees. Our idea was that you would put in place a kind of issues manager that would try and guide the development of a field, but first of all, it would just monitor development, convene forums between the many stakeholders, map issues and gaps, see if anyone was addressing those issues and gaps or where their best practices had come to the floor. If these issues were not being addressed, then how could you address them, looking at a broad array of mechanisms. By a broad array of mechanisms, we meant you start with feasible technological solutions, you then look at what can be managed through corporate self-governance, and if you couldn't find anything in either of those areas, then you turn to what is sometimes called soft law... So Gary and I proposed this model. Every time we ever talked about it, people would say, "Boy, that's a great idea. Somebody should do that." I was going to international forums, such as going to the World Economic meetings in Davos, where I'd be asked to be a fire-starter on all kinds of subject areas by safety and food security and the law of the ocean. In a few minutes, I would quickly outline this model as a way of getting people to think much more richly about ways to manage technological development and not just immediately go to laws and regulatory bodies. All of this convinced me that this model was very valuable, but it wasn't being taken up. All of that led to this first International Congress for the Governance of Artificial Intelligence, which will be convened in Prague on April 16 to 18. I do invite those of you listening to this podcast who are interested in the international governance of AI or really agile governance for technology more broadly to join us at that gathering."

Important timestamps:

0:00 intro

2:50 Wendell's evolution in work and thought

10:45 AI alignment and machine ethics

27:05 Wendell's focus on AI governance

34:04 How much can soft law shape hard law?

37:27 What does hard law consist of?

43:25 Contextualizing the International Congress for the Governance of AI

45:00 How AI governance efforts might fail

58:40 AGI governance

1:05:00 Wendell's forthcoming book

Works referenced:

A Dangerous Master: How to Keep Technology from Slipping Beyond Our Control

Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong

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