We donated $5000 to the Machine Intelligence Research Institut | AudD
We donated $5000 to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
The long-term future of humanity is extremely valuable. The scientists evaluate the chance of an AI destroying the enormous potential of the human race as 1 in a 6, which is orders of magnitude greater than the risks posed by bioterrorism or global warming.
MIRI works on the prevention of the existential risks related to smarter-than-human AIs. They do research in math, machine learning, game theory and solve a lot of extremely interesting problems about utility functions and decision making.
If you decide to donate certain resources or money to charity, it's better to make the highest possible positive impact with the resources you devoted. If your aim is to save lives or make them better right now, there are organizations like GiveWell.org that help with that.
But the support of MIRI and other organizations (e.g. Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford) focused on preserving the long-term potential of humanity saves a lot more lives than could save the support of usual charities, even the most effective ones of them.
