Schwartz Reisman Institute

I’m so honored to see “What Is Intelligence?” named the 2026 PROSE Award winner in the Engineering and Technology category. Thank you to the Association of American Publishers (@AmericanPublish) for this recognition, and to everyone who has supported the book.

Join us in-person, or online, this Wednesday for a special SRI Seminar Series event with @ZhijingJin (@UofTCompSci). Talk: "Emergent AI safety risks in multi-agent LLMs." 📅 Wednesday, March 18, 2026 ⏰ 12:30–2:00 PM Register: uoft.me/cfx

2026 speakers include: @tomstello_, @kashhill, @minzlicht, @raphaelmilliere, @AnatPerry, @karinavold, @jevinwest, and more.

The window for shaping the safe, ethical development of advanced AI systems is rapidly narrowing. On May 13th, technical researchers, social scientists, and humanists will gather to foster new ways of thinking about the challenges posed by AI. Join us: absolutelyinterdisciplinary.com

“We still have time to figure out if there's a way we can coexist happily with AI, and we should be putting a lot of research effort into that.” Watch @geoffreyhinton in conversation with @neiltyson about the past, present, & future of neural networks. youtube.com/watch?v=l6ZcFa…

What can past visions of religious alignment tell us about our visions for an AI future? Join SRI & @UofTReligion as we explore how religious ideas inform today's debates on AGI alignment/misalignment. April 8 | 5:30–7:30 PM (In-person only) Register: uoft.me/ccZ

Cooperation, complexity, & the future of intelligence. Join @Google VP & Fellow @blaiseaguera in conversation with SRI Visiting Fellow @schneierblog at SRI. In-person only | March 9 | 2:30–4 PM Seats are limited. Register:👉uoft.me/ccc

SRI Strategic Advisor @geoffreyhinton and host @NahlahAyed discuss the long-term possibilities of #AI on the latest episode of @CBC Radio's Ideas. Episode: bit.ly/40jfMKU

Founded by SRI Research Lead @karinavold, the Algorithmic Bias in Canada (ABC) project is examining racism in AI, and urging more equitable AI governance in Canada. Learn about ABC 👉 bit.ly/4rVtwYd

Tomorrow! Our weekly SRI Seminar Series welcomes Dr. Mamatha Bhat, a clinician-scientist at @UofT and Toronto General Hospital Research Institute whose work bridges hepatology, transplantation, & AI in medicine. Feb. 11 | 12:30–2 PM 👉 bit.ly/SRI-seminar

Big Tech doesn’t just sell services — it governs daily life. In a new @globeandmail op-ed, SRI Faculty Affiliate @wendyhwong argues that platforms function as unelected governors and, accordingly, must be held accountable. 🔗 Read more: theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…

How does AI change how we create knowledge? SRI Faculty Affiliate @paologranata discusses his new book Generative Knowledge, arguing that AI should be understood as a co-creative partner—reshaping learning, research, and creativity itself. Read more: srinstitute.utoronto.ca/news/2026-paul…

Read SRI Faculty Affiliate Travis LaCroix on why AI alignment isn’t just a technical problem, but a political one. In a recent interview, LaCroix discusses his new book and what it means to align AI with justice, power, and community. 🔗 Read more: srinstitute.utoronto.ca/news/2026-trav…

A new paper co-authored by SRI Chair @DavidDuvenaud examines “gradual disempowerment”: how incremental AI deployment could steadily reduce human influence over the economy, culture, and the state—without a single abrupt takeover. @80000Hours feature: 80000hours.org/podcast/episod…

⏰Reminder: Applications for the 2026 SRI Graduate Fellowships close Feb 8. U of T grad students researching the social impacts of technology are encouraged to apply. 📄 Read the call + apply: srinstitute.utoronto.ca/news/2026-call…

Even 'aligned AGI' naturally kills democracy and leads to oligarchy, or worse. That's the take of Anthropic's past alignment evals team lead, Prof @DavidDuvenaud. Once humans aren't needed to do jobs or serve in the military, to governments we look like "meddlesome parasites". With voters unable to contribute but engaged in incessant activism to extract resources from others – resources the country needs to avoid domination by rivals – the attraction of mass disenfranchisement could be overwhelming. In 2025 David co-authored "Gradual Disempowerment", which aimed to lay out this and many other political, economic, and cultural forces that could sideline ordinary people (and maybe all people) in the presence of machines that can cheaply do everything humans will do. Most controversially, David and colleagues believe that competitive forces will compel disempowerment, even if all those AIs are aligned and loyal to their users. I wasn't sure how much I believed this vision of how the future might play out, so I interviewed him for The 80,000 Hours Podcast to probe how well it holds up. He and I covered: 01:30 The case that alignment isn’t enough 14:15 How smart AI advice still leads to terrible outcomes 19:05 How gradual disempowerment occurs 22:10 Economics: Humans become "meddlesome parasites" 29:37 Humans are a "criminally decadent" waste of energy 40:48 Is humans losing control actually bad, ethically? 57:47 Politics: Governments stop needing people 1:10:47 Can human culture survive in an AI-dominated world? 1:27:20 Will the future be determined by competitive or coordinative forces? 1:35:00 Can we find a single good post-AGI equilibria for humans? 1:45:17 Do we know anything useful to do about this? 1:56:42 How important is this problem compared to other AGI issues? 2:05:42 Improving global coordination may be our best bet 2:08:14 The 'Gradual Disempowerment Index' 2:11:22 The government will fight to write AI constitutions 2:17:48 “The intelligence curse” and Workshop Labs 2:23:48 Mapping out disempowerment in a world of aligned AGIs 2:30:10 What do David’s CompSci colleagues make of all this? Links below — enjoy!

#UofT ranked 1st in Canada, among top 30 globally, in all subjects: Times Higher Education 🍁 uoft.me/c7J

🤖This week in the SRI Seminar Series, Brad Knox (@UTCompSci) presents: “Harmful traits of AI companions.” What risks emerge when people form bonded relationships with AI—and how do design choices shape those harms? 📅 Wed Jan 28 | 12:30–2 PM 🔗 eventbrite.ca/e/sri-seminar-…

A handful of companies. Unprecedented resources. Global consequences. Join us March 11th at @UofT for an in-person conversation with @_KarenHao, author of the @nytimes bestseller Empire of AI. 🎟️ Tickets ➡️ srinstitute.utoronto.ca/events-archive…

This week in the SRI Seminar Series: @GabrielSaadia (@UCLA) “Human in the machine: Towards community-grounded AI reasoning.” How do we align LLMs with human and community values in high-stakes settings? 🗓️ Wed, January 21 -- 12:30–2:00 p.m. 🔗 eventbrite.ca/e/sri-seminar-…