#007 - AI compute governance with Lennart Heim

Lennart has a background in electrical engineering and is a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Governance of AI.

In this episode

• What is AI governance and where does it fit in with AI safety
• Lennart’s journey into AI governance
• US export controls on AI chips and recent developments in the AI landscape
• The AI production function
• AI compute chip supply chain
• AI policy and US concerns around China having access to cutting-edge AI technology
• Potential ways do AI governance through controlling or monitoring access to AI compute
• What types of engineers are needed in the field
• How people can enter the AI governances field

Full show notes: http://engineeredforimpact.show/lennart

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yK5odT1jz-U

Timestamps

(00:00:07) Intro

(00:01:28) Lennart's intro

(00:02:02) Why do we care about AI safety

(00:03:22) Lennart's journey to working on AI governance

(00:09:59) Recent developments in AI

(00:14:11) AI production function

(00:16:41) AI supply chain and US restrictions

(00:20:07) Examples of compute as a governance mechanism

(00:26:12) Why the US is concerned about China's access to AI chips

(00:32:07) Promising ways to use compute for governance

(00:40:53) When will compute no long be viable for governance

(00:44:56) Mis-aligned financial incentives around AI chips

(00:48:04) Who is well-suited to work on AI governance

(00:56:38) How to test your fit for working in AI governance

(01:02:46) Choosing between AI governance vs AI technical work

(01:08:24) What do you wish you had invented?

(01:09:26) Finding Lennart online

(01:10:35) Outro