Tag: simulation

Assume Safe AI

Posted on by Christopher Berry

“In an ideal scenario, we would have full confidence in the controllability of AI systems both now and in the future. Reliable mechanisms would be in place to ensure that AI systems do not act deceptively. There would be a strong understanding of AI system internals, sufficient to have knowledge of a system’s tendencies and goals; these tools would allow us to avoid building systems that are deserving of moral consideration or rights. AI systems would be directed to promote a pluralistic set of diverse values, ensuring the enhancement of certain values doesn’t lead to the total neglect of others. AI assistants could act as advisors, giving us ideal advice and helping us make better decisions according to our own[…]

Filter foam

Posted on by Christopher Berry

Last month, in Free speech and free deliberation, I argued that information rich free speech is the best kind of free speech because it enables free deliberation. The core tension is that in the short-run, the return on misinformation is great. In the medium-run, the cost of misinformation is ruinous. Given that most social media and information retrieval platforms have embraced misinformation contrary to their own medium-run interests, how might we, as individuals and in communities, remain open to receiving information while protecting our freedom of deliberation in the short-run? In this post, I’ll argue that one potential set of measures in the short-run involves the creation of filter foam. Rather than experience the externalities from misinformation, amplified by centralized[…]

Because Because

Posted on by Christopher Berry

Somewhere along the way, I came to believe that the word causal came from the word because. Because there’s a cause contained in the word because. The word is almost like a commandment. Be the cause. I don’t think that’s really true. It’s just a silly association. The word because seems to be an element of a persuasive argument. How about a little thought experiment? Consider the assessment: “Peaches are gross.” Okay, you may have one or many positions on this controversial subject: You agree because your experience matches that statement, you disagree because your experience does not match that statement, you may not agree nor disagree because it’s possible that some peaches are gross and some other peaches are[…]

Experience Through Simulation

Posted on by Christopher Berry

Roger Martin observed in The Opposable Mind that our stances inform our tools, and our tools inform our experiences. For those who take a stance of continuous improvement and risk management, choosing simulation as a tool is a good course of action. This post unpacks that statement. Stance What are you? You decide your stance. Are you a scientist? Are you an artist? Are you a software engineer? An entrepreneur? You get to decide. Tools Your stance has a powerful impact on which tools you pick up. A scientist picks up the scientific method. An artist may pick up a paint brush. A software engineer pick up python. An entrepreneur may choose the lean canvas and the pitch deck. Experiences[…]

A Problem With Segmentation (With Simulation)

Posted on by Christopher Berry

My contemporaneous notes from a particular INFORMS Marketing Science Conference six years ago feature the letters W, T, and F scrawled in the margins a few times. I learned of a deeper problem lurking in the way we were using the crosstab to identify segmentation. In this post, I’ll unpack a heap of jargon and lay the concern bare. To the twenty or so marketing scientists in the room at the time, I read concern on the faces of about a dozen. It was a atypical because typically that community doesn’t get concerned about too much. One leader remarked that most in industry were not even executing basic segmentation on their users, so it wasn’t a huge industrial concern, but[…]