Is a “Hardwired Pause” of AI Possible?

Various parties concerned about the risks that artificial intelligence (AI) pose to humanity have called for a pause in its development. But such a call faces a difficult collective action problem. Can it be solved? I have been skeptical (and suggested an alternate type of approach to AI safety here). But a new report argues that a pause is indeed possible. Drafted by the Working Group on AI Pause Feasibility, an interdisciplinary group led by statistician William Fithian and philosopher Wesley H. Holliday (both of Berkeley), the report‘s focus is: a scenario in which world leaders would prefer pausing to not pausing if they could be confident that others were also pausing or that defections from a pause would be detected within a reasonable timeframe. In such a pause-willing scenario, is a pause for at least a decade feasible? Their answer is that a “hardwired pause” is feasible. What is a hardwired pause? A hardwired pause would stop the production of training-capable AI chips,…