Anxiety over Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
Driving a number of students from renowned academic powerhouses such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to forsake their scholarly endeavors. Instead, these students are venturing into the unpredictable realm of AI safety research and associated industries.
Undergraduates Prioritize AI Safety
Increasingly, undergraduates are prioritizing concerns about AI safety ahead of completing their collegiate education. AGI, a category of AI with the potential to undertake tasks across a broad spectrum with human-like ability, is at the core of this choice. One student, Alice Blair from MIT, has chosen to set aside her education due to worries that AGI could culminate in a human extinction event. She asserts, “I feared that AGI’s emergence might mean I wouldn’t be around to finish my degree,” leading her to pursue a career in technical writing at an AI safety organization.
Emergence of AI Safety Advocates
Blair isn’t alone; a number of her peers are similarly pressing pause on their academic careers to confront what they view as real threats poised by burgeoning AI technologies. Sparked by a 2024 report commissioned by the U.S. Department of State, which flagged potential extinction-level dangers posed by AI’s swift advance, students are motivated by a sense of urgency.
“These individuals are acting from a genuine place of concern for our collective future,” remarks Nikola Jurković, a recent Harvard alumnus with experience leading AI safety initiatives. “With the specter of automation looming over our professional lives, the longer one remains in school, the less time they have to forge a substantial career.”
Impacts on Job Market
AI’s relentless march forward has already begun to reshape the job market, particularly at the entry-level, compelling companies to choose burgeoning AI solutions over human internships and recent graduate employment. Industry leaders like Anthropic’s Dario Amodei caution that AI may soon obsolete a significant fraction of entry-level white-collar jobs, potentially rocketing unemployment figures to record highs.
Projections and Uncertainty on AGI’s Arrival
Experts and industry giants have divergent projections on when AGI might arrive, with tech figureheads like Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind offering differing insights. However, students such as Adam Kaufman, who left Harvard to align himself with Redwood Research, as well as others now working with OpenAI, are choosing to prioritize their time developing critical AI safeguards in what they perceive as a race against time.
Suggestions for Those Eyeing a Similar Path
While there’s a certain romanticism attached to the archetype of the successful dropout in the startup ecosystem, cautionary voices still echo in the background. Paul Graham, a co-founder of Y Combinator, encourages students to continue their educations. Likewise, Blair, who is deeply entrenched in the field of AI safety, offers a word of caution that such drastic life decisions carry substantial real-world adversities and should be pursued only by those who are ready for the challenges that lie beyond the classroom.
