The Boston-based Future of Life Institute is a volunteer-run research and outreach organization working to mitigate the existential risks facing humanity.
The Institute was co-founded in 2014 by Jaan Tallinn, founding engineer of Skype, and MIT physics professor Max Tegmark, along with several others. It is currently focusing on the potential risks presented by the development of human-level artificial intelligence.
A scientific advisory board of celebrities and heavy hitters such as cosmologist Stephen Hawking, Tesla/SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Astronomer Royal Professor Martin Rees of Cambridge University, author and director of the MIT Center for Digital Business Erik Brynjolfsson, and screen actors Alan Alda and Morgan Freeman are helping to promote the Institute’s work.
During a four-day conference held early this year in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the institute explored issues in AI research. This resulted in an Open Letter to the global science and creative communities, alongside a Research Priorities document.
These materials encourage the adoption of practical standards and ethical policies around the use of AI, especially when it comes to autonomous machines and robots. It also calls for more intensive research around how to ensure that increasingly sophisticated forms of artificial intelligence can continue to serve humanity’s vision.
