The Duty of Frontier Labs to Slow the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) Race

About this event

Center for Business Ethics Visiting Scholar | Albers Scholarship Seminar

"The Duty of Frontier Labs to Slow the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) Race"

Ewan Kingston , Ph.D., Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University

Presentation and discussion from 12:30-1:30pm

Stuart T. Rolfe Community Room (Admissions and Alumni Building)

Socializing, networking, and lunch available beginning at 12:00pm

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Abstract

Frontier AI labs, primarily in the US and China, are racing to produce the cutting edge of AI. Currently, such labs are moving their models towards “recursive self-improvement,” with many credible forecasters predicting that labs could effectively hand off the training of new models to AI itself by the end of 2027. Indeed, they describe themselves as being in a race to reach this goal or something close to it. I argue, first, that frontier AI labs have a collective duty to slow this race. Second, I sketch examples of what such a duty might mean for individual labs, absent strong regulatory incentives.

Ewan Kingston is Assistant Professor in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. He was previously a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University's Climate Futures Initiative and served as an Assistant Professor at College of Charleston before moving to Santa Clara.

His research to date has focused on the role of consumers in responding to widespread market failures and international burden-sharing with respect to climate change. His newest work examines the responsibilities firms have to the regulatory process and the rapid scaling of artificial intelligence (AI). His work has appeared in Business Ethics Quarterly, Social Theory and Practice, and Ethics and International Affairs, among other journals. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Duke University after receiving degrees from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.

Hosted by the Center for Business Ethics, the Albers School of Business and Economics Scholarship Seminar Series, and Seattle University’s Technology Ethics Initiative