Open Thread 447

Read the original at Astral Codex Ten ↗
Cite

Alexander, S. (2026, August 18). Open Thread 447. Astral Codex Ten. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/open-thread-447

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Astral Codex Ten · collected 2026-08-18 · by Scott Alexander commentary

Quick Summary

The author of this article is promoting several opportunities and events related to artificial intelligence and security. The key numbers mentioned are 1, referring to the AI Security Bootcamp's upcoming cohort, and October 4-10, the dates for the in-person program in San Francisco. The article reports on two separate initiatives: an intensive AI security program that offers free tuition and accommodation to accepted applicants, and a book about AI existential risk written from a left-wing perspective.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-08-20, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Scott Alexander is hosting an open thread where readers can discuss various topics and ask questions. In addition to this, he's promoting two opportunities: the AI Security Bootcamp in San Francisco from October 4-10**, which offers free tuition and accommodation for accepted participants; and Garrison Lovely's book "Obsolete", a left-wing perspective on AI existential risk, available for pre-order on Amazon.

Written for “Open Thread 447” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Open Thread 447
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 7 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
not measured
these signals count newsroom corrections; Commentary has none to count
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-08-20 · source text last changed 2026-08-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Astral Codex Ten · 53 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Scott Alexander
46 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have long mentioned the possibility that their products could be existentially dangerous, but this has recently crescendoed into even more dire warnings, including suggestions that we have to pace the frontier, ie coordinate to slow AI progress.
2026-10-15 · assertive framing · AI Safety Is Not A Corporate Plot
🔮 [This is one of the finalists in the 2026 book review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done.
2026-10-10 · assertive framing · Your Book Review: We Present Television
🔮 When I objected that maybe we should wait for you to accept before figuring out details, they all said great, that’s absolutely right, they would contact you right away.
2026-10-06 · assertive framing · An Open Letter To Steven Pinker On AI
🔮 I’m pretty busy and will try to make up for it after that changes.
2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Open Thread 454
🔮 My wife and I could make healthy embryos, but none of the transfers were sticking.
2026-10-02 · assertive framing · Our AI Midwife
🔮 The challenger in that race, Jamie Joyce, contacted me and asked me to change my mind (both candidates will be facing off again in the general election).
2026-09-28 · assertive framing · Open Thread 453
🔮 [This is one of the finalists in the 2026 book review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done.
2026-09-25 · assertive framing · Your Book Review: Lee Kuan Yew's Memoirs
🔮 In the public debates after the release of AI 2027, some people accused us of misleading readers by positing “neuralese recurrence”, a hypothetical technology that would allow AIs to think dangerous thoughts without getting detected.
2026-09-24 · assertive framing · The Specter Of Neuralese
🔮 If you trained an AI to give the 19th-century names for birds (eg identify the American Pipit by its 19th-century name “Brown Titlark”), then the AI would behave like a 19th-century person in general (for example, assert that a woman’s proper place is in the home).
2026-09-23 · assertive framing · Mysteries Of AI Generalization
🔮 1: Josh Morrison, who wrote the guest post about how AI Superforecasting Will Transform The FDA, will be doing a panel on the subject with former FDA employee Adam Kroetsch in SF on October 1.
2026-09-21 · assertive framing · Open Thread 452
Also by Scott Alexander
AI Safety Is Not A Corporate Plot
2026-10-15 · Astral Codex Ten
Open Thread 455
2026-10-13 · Astral Codex Ten
Your Book Review: We Present Television
2026-10-10 · Astral Codex Ten
An Open Letter To Steven Pinker On AI
2026-10-06 · Astral Codex Ten
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 46 articles by Scott Alexander →

Topics

ACX AI Security Bootcamp Amazon Discord San Francisco

Subjects

ACX ORG · 1× AI Security Bootcamp ORG · 1× Amazon ORG · 1× Discord ORG · 1× Garrison Lovely’s PERSON · 1× San Francisco GPE · 1×

Narrative

I previously signal-boosted Obsolete, Garrison Lovely’s upcoming book explaining AI existential risk from AI from a left-wing perspective.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-18
2026-08-20 · Astral Codex Ten
Open Thread 447 · assertive framing

Claims (7 extracted, 0 hedged)

Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. asserted
you → post → questions
ACX has an unofficial subreddit, Discord, and bulletin board, and in-person meetups around the world. asserted
ACX → have → world
Most content is free, some is subscriber only; you can subscribe here. asserted
you → subscribe → ?
Also: 1: AI Security Bootcamp is running another (very timely) cohort, and has asked me to signal-boost them again. asserted
Bootcamp → run → them
They are an “intensive program for security professionals shaping how we secure emerging AI systems”. asserted
we → shape → systems
I previously signal-boosted Obsolete, Garrison Lovely’s upcoming book explaining AI existential risk from AI from a left-wing perspective. asserted
I → boost → perspective
He’s asked me to update - the best location to preorder is now the book’s Amazon page. asserted
location → ask → me
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