We are a reading and discussion group on AI & machine learning and their social, political, and scientific implications. We meet by Zoom once per month on the first Tuesday from 12pm-1pm, to discuss pre-circulated papers and articles. Researchers and professionals with interests in AI & machine learning are welcome to participate.

For our meeting next Tuesday, March 4, the focus will be "existential risk": the concern that superintelligent AI poses a threat to human survival and/or control. Some researchers express high concern about existential risk, while others strongly criticize the "existential risk" framework. In discussion, we'll try to get our bearings on the current state of this debate. 

Topic: Existential Risk (Pros and Cons)
(1) Gebru & Torres, "The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of Utopia through artificial intelligence," First Monday (2024). 
https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13636/11606

(2) Swoboda et al., "Examining popular arguments against AI existential risk: a philosophical analysis." ArXiv (2025). 
https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.04064