ClaimsScott Alexander

“I think AI will take a long time to conquer fields like biology which involve loops with the physical world”

Scott Alexander, blogger 20 February 2023 Grading My 2018 Predictions For 2023 (Astral Codex Ten) archived copy

Prediction AI capabilities

AI will take a long time to conquer fields like biology that involve loops with the physical world.

Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.

Prediction: Statements about events outside the person's control, checked once they fell due: did they come true?

Reasoning

'A long time' has no defined horizon and the prediction is too vague to test.

Cite this claim

Scott Alexander, “AI will take a long time to conquer fields like biology that involve loops with the physical world.” (said 20 February 2023). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_fde82acb8866, method 0.1.0+8bea457b, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_fde82acb8866

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

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More prediction claims by Scott Alexander

  1. Mostly true Prediction 3 April 2025
    “Our scenario focuses on coding in particular because we think coding is what starts the intelligence explosion.”

    The authors of the scenario think coding is what will start the intelligence explosion.

  2. Mostly true Prediction 20 February 2023
    “I expect scaling to continue to produce gains, but this is less obvious than it’s been the past five years.”

    Scaling AI models will continue to produce gains, though less obviously than in the past five years.

  3. Mostly true Prediction 3 April 2025
    “We expect that as the AI labs become more capable, they tell the government about this because they want government contracts, they want government support.”

    In the AI 2027 scenario, as AI labs become more capable they tell the government, seeking government contracts and support.

  4. Mostly true Prediction 3 April 2025
    “In our scenario, that starts with cyber warfare, the government sees that these AIs are now as capable as the best human hackers, but can be deployed at humongous scale.”

    In the AI 2027 scenario, the government sees via cyber warfare that AIs are as capable as the best human hackers but deployable at huge scale.

  5. Resolved true Prediction 3 April 2025
    “So they become extremely interested and they discuss nationalizing the AI companies.”

    In the AI 2027 scenario, the government becomes extremely interested in AI and discusses nationalizing the AI companies.

All of them

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