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Forecasting research funding debated: valuable tool or overhyped solution?

A debate is emerging within the AI community regarding the value and funding of forecasting research. One perspective argues that while forecasting has flaws, it has provided valuable, albeit often non-public, insights to decision-makers in frontier AI companies and government agencies. This view emphasizes its role in shaping discourse on AI timelines and risks. Conversely, another viewpoint contends that forecasting has been overfunded and has not yielded sufficiently tangible results, likening its current state to the early, unproven hype around cryptocurrency. This argument suggests that resources would be better allocated by starting with specific problems rather than applying forecasting as a pre-existing solution. AI

IMPACT The debate highlights differing views on whether AI forecasting research provides actionable insights for decision-makers or is an overfunded tool seeking problems.

RANK_REASON This cluster represents an opinion piece and a response to it, discussing the utility and funding of AI forecasting research.

Read on LessWrong (AI tag) →

AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 2 sources. How we write summaries →

Forecasting research funding debated: valuable tool or overhyped solution?

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Commentary
This cluster represents an opinion piece and a response to it, discussing the utility and funding of AI forecasting research.
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2 independent sources
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opinion, funding, other
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High
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153 days old
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COVERAGE [2]

  1. LessWrong (AI tag) TIER_1 English(EN) · Josh Rosenberg ·

    Comment on “Forecasting is Way Overrated, and We Should Stop Funding It”

    <p><i><span>Originally posted as a </span></i><a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WCutvyr9rr3cpF6hx/forecasting-is-way-overrated-and-we-should-stop-funding-it?commentId=anBxme222yHihag28" rel="noreferrer"><i><span>comment</span></i></a><i><span> on </span></i><a href="https:…

  2. LessWrong (AI tag) TIER_1 English(EN) · mabramov ·

    Forecasting is Way Overrated, and We Should Stop Funding It

    <p><b><span>Summary</span></b><span> </span></p><p><span>EA and rationalists got enamoured with forecasting and prediction markets and made them part of the culture, but this hasn’t proven very useful, yet it continues to receive substantial EA funding. We should cut it off.</spa…