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GCRI Welcomes Project Manager and Research Assistant McKenna Fitzgerald

by | 7 May 2020

By Seth Baum

By Seth Baum

Until recently, Ms. Fitzgerald worked as Director of Academic Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco. Her work there focused on facilitating partnerships between government, academia, and industry on AI and related computer technologies. This background positions her to advance GCRI’s efforts to develop practical solutions to AI and other global catastrophic risks.

Here is Ms. Fitzgerald’s bio from our People page:

McKenna Fitzgerald leads the management of GCRI’s projects and contributes to GCRI’s research. She has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining GCRI, she was Director of Academic Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco.

Author

<a href="https://threeatetwo.com/website_79380c4c/author/seth-baum/" target="_self">Seth Baum</a>

Seth Baum

Recent Publications

Climate Change, Uncertainty, and Global Catastrophic Risk

Climate Change, Uncertainty, and Global Catastrophic Risk

by | 30 July 2024

Is climate change a global catastrophic risk? This paper, published in the journal Futures, addresses the question by examining the definition of global catastrophic risk and by comparing climate change to another severe global risk, nuclear winter. The paper concludes that yes, climate change is a global catastrophic risk, and potentially a significant one.

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

by | 3 July 2024

For over 50 years, experts have worried about the risk of AI taking over the world and killing everyone. The concern had always been about hypothetical future AI systems—until recent LLMs emerged. This paper, published in the journal Risk Analysis, assesses how close LLMs are to having the capabilities needed to cause takeover catastrophe.

On the Intrinsic Value of Diversity

On the Intrinsic Value of Diversity

by , | 17 June 2024

Diversity is a major ethics concept, but it is remarkably understudied. This paper, published in the journal Inquiry, presents a foundational study of the ethics of diversity. It adapts ideas about biodiversity and sociodiversity to the overall category of diversity. It also presents three new thought experiments, with implications for AI ethics.

Climate Change, Uncertainty, and Global Catastrophic Risk

Climate Change, Uncertainty, and Global Catastrophic Risk

by | 30 July 2024

Is climate change a global catastrophic risk? This paper, published in the journal Futures, addresses the question by examining the definition of global catastrophic risk and by comparing climate change to another severe global risk, nuclear winter. The paper concludes that yes, climate change is a global catastrophic risk, and potentially a significant one.

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

by | 3 July 2024

For over 50 years, experts have worried about the risk of AI taking over the world and killing everyone. The concern had always been about hypothetical future AI systems—until recent LLMs emerged. This paper, published in the journal Risk Analysis, assesses how close LLMs are to having the capabilities needed to cause takeover catastrophe.

On the Intrinsic Value of Diversity

On the Intrinsic Value of Diversity

by , | 17 June 2024

Diversity is a major ethics concept, but it is remarkably understudied. This paper, published in the journal Inquiry, presents a foundational study of the ethics of diversity. It adapts ideas about biodiversity and sociodiversity to the overall category of diversity. It also presents three new thought experiments, with implications for AI ethics.