In May and June of 2023, I (Akash) had about 50-70 meetings about AI risks with congressional staffers. I had been meaning to write a post reflecting on the experience and some of my takeaways, and I figured it could be a good topic for a LessWrong dialogue. I saw that hath had offered to do LW dialogues with folks, and I reached out.

In this dialogue, we discuss how I decided to chat with staffers, my initial observations in DC, some context about how Congressional offices work, what my meetings looked like, lessons I learned, and some miscellaneous takes about my experience.

Context

hath

Hey! In your message, you mentioned a few topics that relate to your time in DC.

I figured we should start with your experience talking to congressional offices about AI risk. I'm quite interested in learning more; there don't seem to be many [...]

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Outline:

(00:44) Context

(04:37) Arriving in DC and initial observations

(06:58) Hierarchy of a Congressional office

(08:25) Outreach to offices

(11:52) A typical meeting

(14:44) Staffer attitudes toward AI risk

(20:32) Lessons Learned

(22:19) Final Takes

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First published:
December 4th, 2023

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/2sLwt2cSAag74nsdN/speaking-to-congressional-staffers-about-ai-risk

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Speaking to Congressional staffers about AI risk” by Akash, hath

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Speaking to Congressional staffers about AI risk” by Akash, hath