Eliezer Yudkowsky
Encyclopedia
Eliezer Shlomo Yudkowsky (born September 11, 1979) is an American artificial intelligence
researcher
concerned with the singularity
and an advocate of friendly artificial intelligence
, living in Redwood City, California.
for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) in 2000 and continues to be employed as a full-time Research Fellow there.
); and also on artificial-intelligence architectures and decision theories
for stably benevolent motivational structures (Friendly AI, and Coherent Extrapolated Volition in particular). Apart from his research work, Yudkowsky has written explanations of various philosophical topics in non-academic language, particularly on rationality, such as "An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem".
, one of the principal contributors to the blog Overcoming Bias sponsored by the Future of Humanity Institute
of Oxford University. In early 2009, he helped to found Less Wrong, a "community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality". The Sequences on Less Wrong, comprising over two years of blog posts on epistemology, Artificial Intelligence, and metaethics, form the single largest bulk of Yudkowsky's writing.
He contributed two chapters to Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom
's and Milan Ćirković's edited volume Global Catastrophic Risks.
Yudkowsky is the author of the Singularity Institute publications "Creating Friendly AI" (2001), "Levels of Organization in General Intelligence" (2002), "Coherent Extrapolated Volition" (2004), and "Timeless Decision Theory" (2010).
Yudkowsky has also written several works of science fiction
and other fiction
. His Harry Potter
fan fiction
story Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality illustrates topics in cognitive science
and rationality
(The New Yorker
described it as "a thousand-page online 'fanfic' text called 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality', which recasts the original story in an attempt to explain Harry's wizardry through the scientific method"), and has been favorably reviewed both by author David Brin
and by FLOSS
programmer Eric S. Raymond
.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
researcher
Researcher
A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...
concerned with the singularity
Technological singularity
Technological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
and an advocate of friendly artificial intelligence
Friendly artificial intelligence
A Friendly Artificial Intelligence or FAI is an artificial intelligence that has a positive rather than negative effect on humanity. Friendly AI also refers to the field of knowledge required to build such an AI...
, living in Redwood City, California.
Biography
Yudkowsky did not attend high school and is an autodidact with no formal education in artificial intelligence. He co-founded the nonprofit Singularity InstituteSingularity Institute
The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 to develop safe artificial intelligence software, and to raise awareness of both the dangers and potential benefits it believes AI presents...
for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) in 2000 and continues to be employed as a full-time Research Fellow there.
Work
Yudkowsky's research focuses on Artificial Intelligence theory for self-understanding, self-modification, and recursive self-improvement (seed AISeed AI
Seed AI is a hypothesized type of strong artificial intelligence capable of recursive self-improvement. Having improved itself it would become better at improving itself, potentially leading to an exponential increase in intelligence...
); and also on artificial-intelligence architectures and decision theories
Decision theory
Decision theory in economics, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, and statistics is concerned with identifying the values, uncertainties and other issues relevant in a given decision, its rationality, and the resulting optimal decision...
for stably benevolent motivational structures (Friendly AI, and Coherent Extrapolated Volition in particular). Apart from his research work, Yudkowsky has written explanations of various philosophical topics in non-academic language, particularly on rationality, such as "An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem".
Publications
Yudkowsky was, along with Robin HansonRobin Hanson
Robin D. Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He is known as an expert on idea futures, markets and was involved in the creation of the Foresight Exchange and DARPA's FutureMAP...
, one of the principal contributors to the blog Overcoming Bias sponsored by the Future of Humanity Institute
Future of Humanity Institute
The Future of Humanity Institute is part of the Faculty of Philosophy and the James Martin 21st Century School at University of Oxford, England...
of Oxford University. In early 2009, he helped to found Less Wrong, a "community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality". The Sequences on Less Wrong, comprising over two years of blog posts on epistemology, Artificial Intelligence, and metaethics, form the single largest bulk of Yudkowsky's writing.
He contributed two chapters to Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom
Nick Bostrom
Nick Bostrom is a Swedish philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk and the anthropic principle. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics...
's and Milan Ćirković's edited volume Global Catastrophic Risks.
Yudkowsky is the author of the Singularity Institute publications "Creating Friendly AI" (2001), "Levels of Organization in General Intelligence" (2002), "Coherent Extrapolated Volition" (2004), and "Timeless Decision Theory" (2010).
Yudkowsky has also written several works of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and other fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
. His Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
story Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality illustrates topics in cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
and rationality
Rationality
In philosophy, rationality is the exercise of reason. It is the manner in which people derive conclusions when considering things deliberately. It also refers to the conformity of one's beliefs with one's reasons for belief, or with one's actions with one's reasons for action...
(The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
described it as "a thousand-page online 'fanfic' text called 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality', which recasts the original story in an attempt to explain Harry's wizardry through the scientific method"), and has been favorably reviewed both by author David Brin
David Brin
Glen David Brin, Ph.D. is an American scientist and award-winning author of science fiction. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards.-Biography:...
and by FLOSS
Floss
Floss may refer to:* Dental floss, used to clean teeth* Embroidery thread, machine or hand-spun yarn for embroidery* Fairy floss or candyfloss, alternative names for cotton candy* Rousong, i.e. meat floss-Computing:...
programmer Eric S. Raymond
Eric S. Raymond
Eric Steven Raymond , often referred to as ESR, is an American computer programmer, author and open source software advocate. After the 1997 publication of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Raymond was for a number of years frequently quoted as an unofficial spokesman for the open source movement...
.
Further reading
- Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World by Douglas Mulhall, 2002, p. 321.
- The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed By Rapidly Advancing Technologies by Damien BroderickDamien BroderickDamien Francis Broderick is an Australian science fiction and popular science writer. His science fiction novel The Judas Mandala is sometimes credited with the first appearance of the term "virtual reality," and his 1997 popular science book The Spike was the first to investigate the...
, 2001, pp. 236, 265-272, 289, 321, 324, 326, 337-339, 345, 353, 370.
External links
- Personal web site
- Less Wrong - "A community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality" founded by Yudkowsky.
- Biography page at KurzweilAI.net
- Biography page at the Singularity Institute
- Downloadable papers and bibliography
- Predicting The Future :: Eliezer Yudkowsky, NYTA Keynote Address - Feb 2003
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality at Fanfiction.net
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - The Podcast