Updates
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Please remember to submit your Mid-Course Survey by midnight tonight (Friday 27 February).
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Blog posts for Class 10 and Class 11 on AI-driven software development, and Class 12 (Adolescence of Technology) are now posted.
Readings for Tuesday, 10 March
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Nic Fleming, Why we should limit the autonomy of AI-enabled weapons. Nature, 29 October 2025. [PDF]
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National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Final Report, Chapter 4: Autonomous Weapon Systems and Risks Associated with AI-Enabled Warfare, 2021. [PDF of Chapter 4] (The full report, which is over 700 pages is available here: https://reports.nscai.gov/final-report/.)
Optional additional reading: The Special Competitive Studies Project is in some ways a continuation of the NSCAI effort (with some of the same people involved, but unlike the NSCAI report which was requested by the Biden administration, the SCCP memos were not requested by the incoming administration). The memo on Defense Transition is the most relevant.
Reading for Thursday, 12 March
- John von Neumann, Can we Survive Technology?, Fortune Magazine, June 1955. [PDF]
John von Neumann wrote this while he was a member of the US Atomic Energy Commission. If you’re not familiar with von Neumann or think “inventing” the “von Neumann architecture” is among the most important things he did, you should at least skim his Wikipedia Page.
The version hosted by Fortune includes this note:
Editor’s note: This feature from June 1955 by John von Neumann tackles the profound questions wrought by radical technical advancement—in von Neumann’s day the atomic bomb and climate change. von Neumann was one of the twentieth century’s greatest and most influential geniuses. The polymath and patron saint of Game Theory was instrumental in developing America’s nuclear superiority toward the end of World War II as well as in framing the decades-long Cold War with the Soviet Union. In his time, von Neumann was said to possess “the world’s greatest mind.” Here is his characteristically pessimistic look on what the future holds.
I think it grossly mischaracterizes both the article and von Neumann by calling it “characteristically pessimistic”, but you should form your own opinion on it.