# MIRI's Winter 2013 Matching Challenge

**Update**: The fundraiser has been completed! Details [here](http://intelligence.org/2013/12/26/winter-2013-fundraiser-completed/). The original post follows...

(Cross-posted from [MIRI's blog](http://intelligence.org/2013/12/02/2013-winter-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.)

Thanks to [Peter Thiel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel), every donation made to MIRI between now and January 15th, 2014 will be **matched dollar-for-dollar**!

Also, **gifts from "new large donors" will be matched 3x!** That is, if you've given less than $5k to SIAI/MIRI ever, and you now give or pledge $5k or more, Thiel will donate $3 for every dollar you give or pledge.

We don't know whether we'll be able to offer the 3:1 matching ever again, so if you're capable of giving $5k or more, we encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity while you can. Remember that:

*   If you prefer to give monthly, no problem! If you pledge 6 months of monthly donations, your full 6-month pledge will be the donation amount to be matched. So if you give monthly, you can get 3:1 matching for only $834/mo (or $417/mo if you get matching from your employer).
*   We accept [Bitcoin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin) (BTC) and [Ripple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_(monetary_system)) (XRP), both of which have recently jumped in value. If the market value of your Bitcoin or Ripple is $5k or more on the day you make the donation, this will count for matching.
*   If your employer matches your donations at 1:1 (check [here](http://doublethedonation.com/miri)), then you can take advantage of Thiel's 3:1 matching by giving as little as $2,500 (because it's $5k after corporate matching).

_Please email [malo@intelligence.org](mailto: malo@intelligence.org) if you intend on leveraging corporate matching or would like to pledge 6 months of monthly donations, so that we can properly account for your contributions towards the fundraiser._

Thiel's total match is capped at $250,000. The total amount raised will depend on how many people take advantage of 3:1 matching. We don't anticipate being able to hit the $250k cap without substantial use of 3:1 matching — so if you haven't given $5k thus far, please consider giving/pledging $5k or more during this drive. (If you'd like to know the total amount of your past donations to MIRI, just ask [malo@intelligence.org](mailto: malo@intelligence.org).)

![](https://intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/finished-winter-2013.png)

Now is your chance to **double or quadruple your impact** in funding our [research program](http://intelligence.org/research/).

[Donate Today](https://intelligence.org/donate/#donation-methods)

![](https://intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/workshop-horizontal-3.jpg)

### Accomplishments Since Our July 2013 Fundraiser Launched:

*   Held three **[research workshops](http://intelligence.org/workshops/#past-workshops)**, including our [first European workshop](http://intelligence.org/2013/08/30/miris-november-2013-workshop-in-oxford/).
*   [**Talks** at MIT and Harvard](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/01/upcoming-talks-at-harvard-and-mit/), by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Paul Christiano.
*   Yudkowsky is blogging more **Open Problems in Friendly AI**... [on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/233397376818827/)! (They're also being written up in a more conventional format.)
*   New **papers**: (1) [Algorithmic Progress in Six Domains](/r/discussion/lw/i8i/algorithmic_progress_in_six_domains/); (2) [Embryo Selection for Cognitive Enhancement](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/30/new-paper-embryo-selection-for-cognitive-enhancement/); (3) [Racing to the Precipice](http://intelligence.org/2013/11/27/new-paper-racing-to-the-precipice/); (4) [Predicting AGI: What can we say when we know so little?](http://intelligence.org/files/PredictingAGI.pdf)
*   New **ebook**: [_The Hanson-Yudkowsky AI-Foom Debate_](http://intelligence.org/ai-foom-debate/).
*   New **analyses**: (1) [From Philosophy to Math to Engineering](http://intelligence.org/2013/11/04/from-philosophy-to-math-to-engineering/); (2) [How well will policy-makers handle AGI?](http://intelligence.org/2013/09/12/how-well-will-policy-makers-handle-agi-initial-findings/) (3) [How effectively can we plan for future decades?](http://intelligence.org/2013/09/04/how-effectively-can-we-plan-for-future-decades/) (4) [Transparency in Safety-Critical Systems](http://intelligence.org/2013/08/25/transparency-in-safety-critical-systems/); (5) [Mathematical Proofs Improve But Don’t Guarantee Security, Safety, and Friendliness](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/03/proofs/); (6) [What is AGI?](http://intelligence.org/2013/08/11/what-is-agi/) (7) [AI Risk and the Security Mindset](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/31/ai-risk-and-the-security-mindset/); (8) [Richard Posner on AI Dangers](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/18/richard-posner-on-ai-dangers/); (9) [Russell and Norvig on Friendly AI](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/19/russell-and-norvig-on-friendly-ai/).
*   New **expert interviews**: [Greg Morrisett](http://intelligence.org/2013/11/05/greg-morrisett-on-secure-and-reliable-systems-2/) (Harvard), [Robin Hanson](http://intelligence.org/2013/11/01/robin-hanson/) (GMU), [Paul Rosenbloom](http://intelligence.org/2013/09/25/paul-rosenbloom-interview/) (USC), [Stephen Hsu](http://intelligence.org/2013/08/31/stephen-hsu-on-cognitive-genomics/) (MSU), [Markus Schmidt](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/28/markus-schmidt-on-risks-from-novel-biotechnologies/) (Biofaction), [Laurent Orseau](http://intelligence.org/2013/09/06/laurent-orseau-on-agi/) (AgroParisTech), [Holden Karnofsky](http://intelligence.org/2013/08/25/holden-karnofsky-interview/) (GiveWell), [Bas Steunebrink](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/25/bas-steunebrink-on-sleight/) (IDSIA), [Hadi Esmaeilzadeh](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/21/hadi-esmaeilzadeh-on-dark-silicon/) (GIT), [Nick Beckstead](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/17/beckstead-interview/) (Oxford), [Benja Fallenstein](http://intelligence.org/2013/08/04/benja-interview/) (Bristol), [Roman Yampolskiy](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/15/roman-interview/) (U Louisville), [Ben Goertzel](http://intelligence.org/2013/10/18/ben-goertzel/) (Novamente), and [James Miller](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/12/james-miller-interview/) (Smith College).
*   With [Leverage Research](http://www.leverageresearch.org/), we held a San Francisco **book launch party** for James Barratt's [_Our Final Invention_](http://www.amazon.com/Our-Final-Invention-Artificial-Intelligence-ebook/dp/B00CQYAWRY/), which discusses MIRI's work at length. (If you live in the Bay Area and would like to be notified of local events, please tell malo@intelligence.org!)

### How Will Marginal Funds Be Used?

*   **Hiring Friendly AI researchers**, identified through our workshops, as they become available for full-time work at MIRI.
*   Running **more workshops** (next one begins [Dec. 14th](http://intelligence.org/2013/07/24/miris-december-2013-workshop/)), to make concrete Friendly AI research progress, to introduce new researchers to open problems in Friendly AI, and to identify candidates for MIRI to hire.
*   Describing more **open problems in Friendly AI**. Our current strategy is for Yudkowsky to explain them as quickly as possible via Facebook discussion, followed by more structured explanations written by others in collaboration with Yudkowsky.
*   Improving humanity's **strategic understanding** of what to do about superintelligence. In the coming months this will include (1) additional interviews and analyses on our blog, (2) a reader's guide for Nick Bostrom's forthcoming [_Superintelligence_](http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199678112.do) [book](http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199678112.do), and (3) an introductory ebook currently titled _Smarter Than Us._

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

We appreciate your support for our work! [Donate now](https://intelligence.org/donate/#donation-methods), 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. [Screenshot Service](https://linkpeek.com) provided by LinkPeek.com.