key goal of the Puerto Rico conference had been to mainstream AI-safety research, and it was exhilarating to see this unfold in multiple steps. First there was the meeting itself, where many researchers started feeling comfortable engaging with the topic once they realized that they were part of a growing community of peers. I was deeply touched by encouragement from many participants. For example, Cornell University AI professor Bart Selman emailed me saying, “I’ve honestly never seen a better organized or more exciting and intellectually stimulating scientific meeting.” The next
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