# Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at Cambridge makes headlines.

As of an hour ago, I had not yet heard of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.

Luke [announced it to Less Wrong](/lw/bze/new_xrisk_organization_at_cambridge_university/ ), as The University of Cambridge announced it to the world, back in April:

> _[CSER](http://cser.org/) at Cambridge University joins [the others](/lw/9iy/new_xrisk_organizations/)._
> 
> _Good people involved so far, but the expected output depends hugely on who they pick to run the thing._

CSER is scheduled to launch [next year](http://phys.org/news/2012-11-cambridge-technology-humans.html).

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Here is a small selection of CSER press coverage from the last two days:
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[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20501091](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20501091)

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/shortcuts/2012/nov/26/cambridge-university-terminator-studies](http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/shortcuts/2012/nov/26/cambridge-university-terminator-studies)

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238152/Cambridge-University-open-Terminator-centre-study-threat-humans-artificial-intelligence.html](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238152/Cambridge-University-open-Terminator-centre-study-threat-humans-artificial-intelligence.html)

[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/26/new\_centre\_human\_extinction\_risks/](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/26/new_centre_human_extinction_risks/)

[http://www.slashgear.com/new-ai-think-tank-hopes-to-get-real-on-existential-risk-26258246/](http://www.slashgear.com/new-ai-think-tank-hopes-to-get-real-on-existential-risk-26258246/)

[http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/super-brains-to-guard-against-robot-apocalypse-1115293](http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/super-brains-to-guard-against-robot-apocalypse-1115293)

[http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Europe/Cambridge-to-study-risks-from-robots-at-Terminator-Centre/Article1-964746.aspx](http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Europe/Cambridge-to-study-risks-from-robots-at-Terminator-Centre/Article1-964746.aspx)

[http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/cambridge-to-study-risks-from-robots-at-terminator-centre/articleshow/17372042.cms](http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/cambridge-to-study-risks-from-robots-at-terminator-centre/articleshow/17372042.cms)

[http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/141372-judgment-day-update-disneys-grenade-catching-robot-and-the-burger-flipping-robot-that-could-replace-2-million-us-workers](http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/141372-judgment-day-update-disneys-grenade-catching-robot-and-the-burger-flipping-robot-that-could-replace-2-million-us-workers)

[http://slashdot.org/topic/bi/cambridge-university-vs-skynet/](http://slashdot.org/topic/bi/cambridge-university-vs-skynet/)

[http://www.businessinsider.com/researchers-robots-risk-human-civilization-2012-11](http://www.businessinsider.com/researchers-robots-risk-human-civilization-2012-11)

[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22534-megarisks-that-could-drive-us-to-extinction.html](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22534-megarisks-that-could-drive-us-to-extinction.html)

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57553993-76/killer-robots-cambridge-brains-to-assess-ai-risk/](http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57553993-76/killer-robots-cambridge-brains-to-assess-ai-risk/)

[http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/cambridge-university-opens-so-called-termintor-centre-stu](http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/cambridge-university-opens-so-called-termintor-centre-stu)

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/cambridge-university-to-open-center-studying-the-risks-of-technology-to-humans/2012/11/25/e551f4d0-3733-11e2-9258-ac7c78d5c680_story.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/cambridge-university-to-open-center-studying-the-risks-of-technology-to-humans/2012/11/25/e551f4d0-3733-11e2-9258-ac7c78d5c680_story.html)

[http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/11/26/terminator-center-to-open-at-cambridge-university/](http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/11/26/terminator-center-to-open-at-cambridge-university/)

Google News: [All 119 news sources...](https://www.google.com/news?ncl=d8ZGet9Cl7PpT-MktEUm9mSxCqbcM&q=CSER+cambridge&lr=English&hl=en )

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Here's an excerpt from one quite typical story appearing in tech-tabloid theregister.co.uk today:

> [Cambridge boffins fear 'Pandora's Unboxing' and RISE of the MACHINES](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/26/new_centre_human_extinction_risks/)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _Boffins at Cambridge University want to set up a new centre to determine what humankind will do when ultra-intelligent machines like the Terminator or HAL pose "extinction-level" risks to our species._
> 
> _A philosopher, a scientist and a software engineer are proposing the creation of a Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) to analyse the ultimate risks to the future of mankind - including bio- and nanotech, extreme climate change, nuclear war and artificial intelligence._
> 
> _Apart from the frequent portrayal of evil - or just misguidedly deadly - AI in science fiction, actual real scientists have also theorised that super-intelligent machines could be a danger to the human race._
> 
> _Jaan Tallinn, the former software engineer who was one of the founders of Skype, has campaigned for serious discussion of the ethical and safety aspects of artificial general intelligence (AGI)._
> 
> _Tallinn has said that he sometimes feels he is more likely to die from an AI accident than from cancer or heart disease, CSER co-founder and philosopher Huw Price said.  
> \[...\]_

  

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The source for these stories appears to be a press release from the University of Cambridge:

  

[Humanity’s last invention and our uncertain future](http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/humanitys-last-invention-and-our-uncertain-future/)
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> _In 1965, Irving John ‘Jack’ Good sat down and wrote a paper for New Scientist called Speculations concerning the first ultra-intelligent machine. Good, a Cambridge-trained mathematician, Bletchley Park cryptographer, pioneering computer scientist and friend of Alan Turing, wrote that in the near future an ultra-intelligent machine would be built. \[...\] _

[http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/humanitys-last-invention-and-our-uncertain-future/](http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/humanitys-last-invention-and-our-uncertain-future/)

  

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**<del>Three</del> Four quick observations:**

  

1: That's _a lot_ of Terminator II photos.

2: FHI at Oxford and the Singularity Institute does not often get this kind of attention.

3: CSER doesn't appear to have published anything yet.

4: The number of people who have heard the term "existential risk" must have doubled a few times today.