Getting Into PauseAI w/ Will Petillo episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 23, 2025 · 1H 48M

Getting Into PauseAI w/ Will Petillo

from Into AI Safety · host Jacob Haimes, Will Petillo

Will Petillo, onboarding team lead at PauseAI, joins me to discuss the grassroots movement advocating for a pause on frontier AI model development. We explore PauseAI's strategy, talk about common misconceptions Will hears, and dig into how diverse perspectives still converge on the need to slow down AI development.Will's LinksPersonal blog on AIHis mindmap of the AI x-risk debateGame demosAI focused YouTube channel(00:00) - Intro (03:36) - What is PauseAI (10:10) - Will Petillo's journey into AI safety advocacy (21:13) - Understanding PauseAI (31:35) - Pursuing a pause (40:06) - Balancing advocacy in a complex world (45:54) - Why a pause on frontier models? (54:48) - Diverse perspectives within PauseAI (59:55) - PauseAI misconceptions (01:16:40) - Ongoing AI governance efforts (SB1047) (01:28:52) - The role of incremental progress (01:35:16) - Safety-washing and corporate responsibility (01:37:23) - Lessons from environmentalism (01:41:59) - Will's superlatives LinksPauseAIPauseAI-USRelated Kairos.fm EpisodesInto AI Safety episode with Dr. Igor KrawczukmuckrAIkers episode on SB1047Exclusionary TendenciesJacobin article - Elite Universities Gave Us Effective Altruism, the Dumbest Idea of the CenturySSIR article - The Elitist Philanthropy of So-Called Effective AltruismPersuasion blogpost - The Problem with Effective AltruismDark Markets blogpost - What's So Bad About Rationalism?FEE blogpost - What’s Wrong With the Rationality Community?AI in WarfareMaster's Thesis - The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence and Expert Computer Systems in the ArmyInternational Journal of Intelligent Systems article - Artificial Intelligence in the Military: An Overview of the Capabilities, Applications, and ChallengesPreprint - Basic Research, Lethal Effects: Military AI Research Funding as EnlistmentAOAV Article - ‘Military Age Males’ in US Drone StrikesThe Conversation article - Gaza war: Israel using AI to identify human targets raising fears that innocents are being caught in the net972 article - ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in GazaIDF press release - The IDF's Use of Data Technologies in Intelligence ProcessingLieber Institute West Point article - Israel–Hamas 2024 SymposiumVerfassungsblog article - Gaza, Artificial Intelligence, and Kill ListsRAND research report - Dr. Li Bicheng, or How China Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Media ManipulationThe Intercept article collection - The Drone PapersAFIT faculty publication - On Large Language Models in National Security ApplicationsNature article - Death by Metadata: The Bioinformationalisation of Life and the Transliteration of Algorithms to FleshLegislationLegiScan page on SB1047NY State Senate page on the RAISE ActCongress page on the TAKE IT DOWN ActThe GavernorFastCompany article - Big Tech may be focusing its lobbying push on the California AI safety bill’s last stop: Gavin NewsomPOLITICO article - How California politics killed a nationally important AI billNewsom's veto messageAdditional relevant lobbying documentation - [1], [2]Jacobin article - With Newsom’s Veto, Big Tech Beats DemocracyMisc. LinksFLI Open Letter on an AI pauseWikipedia article - Overton windowDaniel Smachtenburger YouTube video - An Introduction to the MetacrisisVAISU website (looks broken as of 2025.06.19)AI Impacts report - Why Did Environmentalism Become Partisan?

Will Petillo, onboarding team lead at PauseAI, joins me to discuss the grassroots movement advocating for a pause on frontier AI model development. We explore PauseAI's strategy, talk about common misconceptions Will hears, and dig into how diverse perspectives still converge on the need to slow down AI development.Will's LinksPersonal blog on AIHis mindmap of the AI x-risk debateGame demosAI focused YouTube channel(00:00) - Intro (03:36) - What is PauseAI (10:10) - Will Petillo's journey into AI safety advocacy (21:13) - Understanding PauseAI (31:35) - Pursuing a pause (40:06) - Balancing advocacy in a complex world (45:54) - Why a pause on frontier models? (54:48) - Diverse perspectives within PauseAI (59:55) - PauseAI misconceptions (01:16:40) - Ongoing AI governance efforts (SB1047) (01:28:52) - The role of incremental progress (01:35:16) - Safety-washing and corporate responsibility (01:37:23) - Lessons from environmentalism (01:41:59) - Will's superlatives LinksPauseAIPauseAI-USRelated Kairos.fm EpisodesInto AI Safety episode with Dr. Igor KrawczukmuckrAIkers episode on SB1047Exclusionary TendenciesJacobin article - Elite Universities Gave Us Effective Altruism, the Dumbest Idea of the CenturySSIR article - The Elitist Philanthropy of So-Called Effective AltruismPersuasion blogpost - The Problem with Effective AltruismDark Markets blogpost - What's So Bad About Rationalism?FEE blogpost - What’s Wrong With the Rationality Community?AI in WarfareMaster's Thesis - The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence and Expert Computer Systems in the ArmyInternational Journal of Intelligent Systems article - Artificial Intelligence in the Military: An Overview of the Capabilities, Applications, and ChallengesPreprint - Basic Research, Lethal Effects: Military AI Research Funding as EnlistmentAOAV Article - ‘Military Age Males’ in US Drone StrikesThe Conversation article - Gaza war: Israel using AI to identify human targets raising fears that innocents are being caught in the net972 article - ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in GazaIDF press release - The IDF's Use of Data Technologies in Intelligence ProcessingLieber Institute West Point article - Israel–Hamas 2024 SymposiumVerfassungsblog article - Gaza, Artificial Intelligence, and Kill ListsRAND research report - Dr. Li Bicheng, or How China Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Media ManipulationThe Intercept article collection - The Drone PapersAFIT faculty publication - On Large Language Models in National Security ApplicationsNature article - Death by Metadata: The Bioinformationalisation of Life and the Transliteration of Algorithms to FleshLegislationLegiScan page on SB1047NY State Senate page on the RAISE ActCongress page on the TAKE IT DOWN ActThe GavernorFastCompany article - Big Tech may be focusing its lobbying push on the California AI safety bill’s last stop: Gavin NewsomPOLITICO article - How California politics killed a nationally important AI billNewsom's veto messageAdditional relevant lobbying documentation - [1], [2]Jacobin article - With Newsom’s Veto, Big Tech Beats DemocracyMisc. LinksFLI Open Letter on an AI pauseWikipedia article - Overton windowDaniel Smachtenburger YouTube video - An Introduction to the MetacrisisVAISU website (looks broken as of 2025.06.19)AI Impacts report - Why Did Environmentalism Become Partisan?

NOW PLAYING

Getting Into PauseAI w/ Will Petillo

0:00 1:48:04

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

Destiny Architecture® Meditations Heather Larson Bring your mediation practice into the Valueverse. LIGHTS, CAMERA, SMILE! Creatives Club Media Lights, Camera, Smile, is a podcast for anyone with a dream to share something with the world, out of the overflow of themselves - be it their mind, their heart, their personalities, and much more. Each of us are alive in this moment in time, with an innate ability to have ideas and create various things to benefit both ourselves and the people around us for a reason, and here, you will find the encouragement, the inspiration, and the motivation to do just that. Hosted by Cicily, founder of Creatives Club, she dives into various topics surrounding creativity and business. Exploring entrepreneurship for creatives in a corporate reality, sharing tips and tricks in a media centered company, answering questions regarding what a creative actually is are just a few of the things discussed on this podcast. Be encouraged to create for yourself as Cicily gets vulnerable by pivoting the camera to herself for the first time.To submit questions for Cicily to answer, or have her address certain t Chewing the Fat with WorkForge WorkForge Bite-Sized Conversations for Building a Stronger Workforce Welcome to Chewing the Fat, a podcast delving deep into the world of food manufacturing. Dive into real conversations around critical topics like staffing, retention, onboarding, and career development in this essential industry. Subscribe now to gain insights from your peers, subject matter experts and more on the biggest issues facing food manufacturers today: -Hiring and retaining employees -Addressing the challenges of the Silver Tsunami -Improving time to productivity of new employees -Engaging employees from hire to retire And more... Tune in to Chewing the Fat, a WorkForge podcast, and join the conversation on how to build and sustain a resilient, high-performing workforce in food manufacturing. Darknet Discussions Darknet Discussions Welcome to "Darknet Discussions," the podcast that gets into the shadows of the internet to bring you the most intriguing, enlightening, and sometimes unsettling stories from the dark web. Hosted by seasoned darknet aficionados, each episode of "Darknet Discussions" explores the intricate dynamics of darknet markets, cybersecurity threats, and the digital underworld. Join us as we interview experts, discuss the latest trends in cybercrime, and shed light on the technologies that operate beneath the surface of everyday internet use. Also, we occasionally go off on a tangent about something completely unrelated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Into AI Safety?

This episode is 1 hour and 48 minutes long.

When was this Into AI Safety episode published?

This episode was published on June 23, 2025.

What is this episode about?

Will Petillo, onboarding team lead at PauseAI, joins me to discuss the grassroots movement advocating for a pause on frontier AI model development. We explore PauseAI's strategy, talk about common misconceptions Will hears, and dig into how diverse...

Is there a transcript available for this episode?

Yes, a full transcript is available for this episode. You can read the complete transcript on the episode page.

Can I download this Into AI Safety episode?

Yes, you can download this episode by clicking the download button on the episode player, or subscribe to the podcast in your preferred podcast app for automatic downloads.
URL copied to clipboard!