# MIRI's 2013 Summer Matching Challenge

([MIRI](http://intelligence.org/) maintains Less Wrong, with generous help from [Trike Apps](http://trikeapps.com/), and much of the core content is written by salaried MIRI staff members.)

**Update 09-15-2013**: The fundraising drive has been completed! My thanks to everyone who contributed.

The original post follows below...

Thanks to the generosity of several major donors,^†^ every donation to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute made from now until (the end of) August 15th, 2013 will be **matched dollar-for-dollar**, up to a total of $200,000!  

**[Donate Now!](http://intelligence.org/donate/)**

Now is your chance to **double your impact** while helping us raise up to $400,000 (with matching) to fund [our research program](http://intelligence.org/research/).

This post is also a good place to _ask your questions_ about our activities and plans — just post a comment!

If you have questions about what your dollars will do at MIRI, you can also schedule a quick call with MIRI Deputy Director Louie Helm: louie@intelligence.org (email), 510-717-1477 (phone), louiehelm (Skype).

[![progress bar](http://intelligence.org/files/progress.png)](http://intelligence.org/donate/)

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Early this year we made a transition from movement-building to research, and we've _hit the ground running_ with six major new research papers, six new strategic analyses on our blog, and much more. Give now to support our ongoing work on [the future's most important problem](http://intelligence.org/2013/06/05/friendly-ai-research-as-effective-altruism/).

### Accomplishments in 2013 so far

*   Released **six new research papers**: (1) [Definability of Truth in Probabilistic Logic](/lw/h1k/reflection_in_probabilistic_set_theory/), (2) [Intelligence Explosion Microeconomics](http://intelligence.org/files/IEM.pdf), (3) [Tiling Agents for Self-Modifying AI](http://intelligence.org/files/TilingAgents.pdf), (4) [Robust Cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma](http://intelligence.org/files/RobustCooperation.pdf), (5) [A Comparison of Decision Algorithms on Newcomblike Problems](http://intelligence.org/files/Comparison.pdf), and (6) [Responses to Catastrophic AGI Risk: A Survey](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/08/responses-to-catastrophic-agi-risk-a-survey/).
*   Held our [2nd](http://intelligence.org/2013/03/07/upcoming-miri-research-workshops/) and [3rd](http://intelligence.org/2013/06/07/miris-july-2013-workshop/) research workshops.
*   Published **six new analyses** to our blog: [The Lean Nonprofit](http://intelligence.org/2013/04/04/the-lean-nonprofit/), [AGI Impact Experts and Friendly AI Experts](http://intelligence.org/2013/05/01/agi-impacts-experts-and-friendly-ai-experts/), [Five Theses...](http://intelligence.org/2013/05/05/five-theses-two-lemmas-and-a-couple-of-strategic-implications/), [When Will AI Be Created?](http://intelligence.org/2013/05/15/when-will-ai-be-created/), [Friendly AI Research as Effective Altruism](http://intelligence.org/2013/06/05/friendly-ai-research-as-effective-altruism/), and [What is Intelligence?](http://intelligence.org/2013/06/19/what-is-intelligence-2/)
*   Published the _[Facing the Intelligence Explosion](http://intelligenceexplosion.com/ebook/) _ebook.
*   Published several other substantial articles: [Recommended Courses for MIRI Researchers](http://intelligence.org/courses/), [Decision Theory FAQ](/lw/gu1/decision_theory_faq/), [A brief history of ethically concerned scientists](/lw/gln/a_brief_history_of_ethically_concerned_scientists/), [Bayesian Adjustment Does Not Defeat Existential Risk Charity](/lw/gzq/bayesian_adjustment_does_not_defeat_existential/), and others.
*   Published our first three expert interviews, with [James Miller](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/12/james-miller-interview/), [Roman Yampolskiy](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/15/roman-interview/), and [Nick Beckstead](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/17/beckstead-interview/).
*   Launched our new website at intelligence.org as part of [changing our name](http://intelligence.org/2013/01/30/we-are-now-the-machine-intelligence-research-institute-miri) to MIRI.
*   Relocated to [new offices](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/08/miri-has-moved/)... 2 blocks from UC Berkeley, which is ranked [5th](http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-mathematics) in the world in mathematics, and [1st](http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/logic-rankings) in the world in mathematical logic.
*   And of course _much_ more.

### Future Plans You Can Help Support

*   We will host many more research workshops, including [one in September](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/07/miris-september-2013-workshop/ ‎) in Berkeley, one in December (with [John Baez](http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/) attending) in Berkeley, and one in Oxford, UK (dates TBD).
*   Eliezer will continue to publish about open problems in Friendly AI. (Here is [#1](/lw/hbd/new_report_intelligence_explosion_microeconomics/) and [#2](/lw/hmt/tiling_agents_for_selfmodifying_ai_opfai_2/).)
*   We will continue to publish strategic analyses and expert interviews, mostly via [our blog](http://intelligence.org/blog/).
*   We will publish nicely-edited ebooks (Kindle, iBooks, and PDF) for more of our materials, to make them more accessible: _[The Sequences, 2006-2009](http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences) _and _[The Hanson-Yudkowsky AI Foom Debate](http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/The_Hanson-Yudkowsky_AI-Foom_Debate)_.
*   We will continue to set up the infrastructure (e.g. [new offices](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/08/miri-has-moved/), researcher endowments) required to host a productive Friendly AI research team, and (over several years) recruit enough top-level math talent to launch it.
*   We hope to hire an experienced development director (job ad not yet posted), so that the contributions of our current supporters can be multiplied even further by a professional fundraiser.

(Other projects are still being surveyed for likely cost and strategic impact.)

We appreciate your support for our high-impact work! Donate now, and seize a better than usual chance to move our work forward.

If you have questions about donating, please contact Louie Helm at (510) 717-1477 or [louie@intelligence.org](mailto:louie@intelligence.org).

^†^ $200,000 of total matching funds has been provided by Jaan Tallinn, Loren Merritt, Rick Schwall, and Alexei Andreev.