The Midas Project is a watchdog nonprofit advocating for the responsible development and deployment of advanced artificial intelligence. We lead strategic initiatives to monitor tech companies, counter corporate propaganda, and advocate for the responsible development of emerging technology. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that AI technology benefits everybody, not just the companies developing it.

The Midas Project is a grassroots initiative founded in early 2024. The vast majority of our campaign participants are unpaid volunteers who contribute in their free time. We are a nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization that relies on donations from the public to continue our work.

No. One of our central values is a pro-technology attitude. 

Progress in technology has improved lives for millions of people around the globe (after all, without it, we wouldn’t have penicillin, air conditioning, or the internet). Artificial intelligence is already being used by millions to help improve medicine, education, and overall living standards. We believe this progress should continue, and we hope AI will be a positive force in the world.

However, we are also realists — and skeptical realists at that. We believe advanced AI systems may be a “dual-use” technology that can be used for harm as well. In order to avert social inequality, concentration of power, or AI-driven catastrophes, everybody needs to have a voice at the table when decisions about development and deployment are being made.

Currently, the vast majority of these decisions about the future of AI are being made in shadowy corporate boardrooms with little oversight and accountability. That’s why The Midas Project is committed to raising awareness about the risks of AI, and ensuring that global citizens are given a chance to make their voice heard. 

Various AI experts including Nick Bostrom and Stuart Russell have compared the development of advanced AI to the myth of King Midas.

According to the legend, King Midas once asked a powerful satyr to make it so that whatever he touched instantly turned into gold. At first, he was thrilled with his new powers. But the King soon discovered that he couldn’t touch food, water, or even his family without instantly turning them to metal. In other words, the sudden attainment of an incredible power with insufficiently well-specified goals and safeguards led to a terrible tragedy.

Much like King Midas, tech companies are now eagerly pursuing incredible wealth and power by developing artificial intelligence, a technology that will change our world forever. But how will we know that it is designed in alignment with our collective human values? If we misspecify even a single goal or safeguard for these systems, how will we prevent them from causing an incredible catastrophe?

In the words of Stuart Russell, “​​If you continue on the current path, the better AI gets, the worse things get for us. For any given incorrectly stated objective, the better a system achieves that objective, the worse it is.”

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