LessWrong posts by zvi

The Federal AI Policy Framework has been released. Well, it is a four page outline. Mostly it just reiterates existing such outlines. But that is four more pages than we had previously. It includes the beginnings of actual policy proposals, some of which are highly welcome and actively good.

Perhaps most importantly, it affirms that we are a Republic in which the way we Do Policy is we pass a law through Congress specifying what we do, and that we need to actually Do Policy alongside trying to ban others who might attempt to Do Policy.

It also acknowledges that, as a practical political matter, ‘attach the moratorium banning all AI state laws’ cannot be simply attached to a few child safety rules.

I was especially heartened by the call for protections for free speech that guard in particular against the Federal Government, especially given what else is happening. That doesn’t fill the role of other things but it is most welcome.

Alas, I couldn’t support even a strong implementation of this proposal as written, because it overrides state laws in the most important places and replaces them with essentially nothing.

As in, this is not, as written, a way [...] ---

First published:

March 20th, 2026


Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tcoNLbvrpv9KcxzvM/the-federal-ai-policy-framework-an-improvement-but-my-offer

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A lot happened, but by today's standards this felt like a quiet week.

I was happy for the break, and I hope that we get to continue relatively relaxing.

The Anthropic PBC vs. Department of War case is working its way through the system. The government responded on Tuesday, and the preliminary hearing is next week. I covered that here.

Once that is out of the way, I plan to cover Anthropic's RSP v3, both the fact that it went back on previous promises and an analysis of its new more flexible contents, including a reading of the full risk report.

I’m for now skipping over the latest paper from Owain Evans, as well as the Anthropic interviews with 81,000 people about what they want from AI, which I’ll be covering in the future and could become individual posts.

Table of Contents


Still Only Partial Cure For Cancer. AlphaFold plus GPT-5.4 equals cancer drug.

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. What do we want? A lot of things.

Language Models Don’t Offer Mundane Utility. A million can be too many tokens.

Huh, Upgrades. GPT-5.4-Mini and Nano, Claude 1M context, it's all online.

Levels of [...]
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Outline:
(00:59) Still Only Partial Cure For Cancer
(04:16) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(05:58) Language Models Dont Offer Mundane Utility
(07:59) Huh, Upgrades
(13:09) Levels of Friction
(14:10) Choose Your Fighter
(15:04) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(17:05) Greetings From The Torment Nexus
(20:38) Levels of Friction
(23:34) Fun With Media Generation
(26:20) A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer
(27:22) They Took Our Jobs
(31:01) Get Involved
(36:14) Conditional Support For A Pause
(40:12) In Other AI News
(43:38) Show Me the Money
(44:23) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
(46:12) This Means Special Military Operation
(46:30) Quiet Speculations
(47:17) Quickly, Theres No Time
(49:24) And Then Theres Emil Michael
(54:00) Good Advice
(54:57) Patriots and Tyrants
(01:00:25) The Quest for Survival
(01:05:27) Nashville Rules
(01:07:10) People Really Hate AI
(01:14:35) The OpenAI-a16z Anti-All-AI-Regulation Super PAC
(01:18:07) Chip City
(01:21:41) The Week in Audio
(01:23:26) Rhetorical Innovation
(01:28:25) Instrumental Convergence
(01:29:49) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(01:35:42) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(01:36:59) The Lighter Side
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First published:

March 19th, 2026


Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LXRqeAW6G9tang8vF/ai-160-what-passes-for-a-pause

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The news has thankfully quieted down on this front, and is mostly about the lawsuit as we build towards a hearing next week, after which we will find out if a temporary restraining order or an injunction is on the table.

The government arguments were going to be terrible no matter what, given the terrible set of facts and who was directing the argument, and their decision not to narrow their scope or compromise. But Anthropic has an uphill battle to try and get a random court to give them advance relief, so it could go either way.

See You In Court

There are two big questions in the case Anthropic vs. Department of War.

The first is, who eventually wins?

The second is, will Anthropic win a temporary restraining order?

The bar for the second is much higher at the hearing on 3/24. Yes, Anthropic very obviously should get one and it is very scary to think they might not, but as Dean Ball warns the injunction could be a rather tough ask even with this insanely damning set of facts on Anthropic's side many times over, and its crazy list of [...]
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Outline:
(00:51) See You In Court
(02:25) The Government Responds
(07:50) Retaliation and Jawboning
(09:52) Patriots and Tyrants
(16:00) The Principles, Sadly, Were Always Fake
(17:40) Other Related News
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First published:

March 18th, 2026


Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/o9M5RGrjM45aNq8jN/anthropic-vs-dow-5-motions-filed

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Things are relatively quiet on the AI front, so I figured it's time to check in on some other things that have been going on, including various developments at the FDA.

Table of Contents


FDA Reformandum Est.

FDA Delenda Est.

IN MICE.

Doctor, Doctor.

Trust The Process.

Cancer Screening.

Autism Everywhere All At Once.

Other Mental Problems Everywhere All At Once.

Source Data Verification.

External Review Board.

Walk It Off.

An Unhealthy Weight Can Be Worse Than You Realize.

Our GLP-1 Price Cheap.

Right To Die Should Include Right To Try.

FDA Reformandum Est

In lieu of plan A, how about plan B?

Senator Bill Cassidy released a new report on modernizing the FDA. Alex Tabarrok approves, which means it's probably good.

The FDA chief has an even better idea.

Matthew Herper: FDA chief Marty Makary says ‘everything should be over the counter’ unless drug is unsafe or addictive [or requires monitoring].

Annika Kim Constantino: Makary said the FDA is looking at “basic, safe” prescription drugs like nausea medications and vaginal estrogen, which is used to [...]
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Outline:
(00:19) FDA Reformandum Est
(01:17) FDA Delenda Est
(14:11) IN MICE
(15:09) Doctor, Doctor
(15:38) Trust The Process
(16:51) Cancer Screening
(18:18) Autism Everywhere All At Once
(19:25) Other Mental Problems Everywhere All At Once
(21:26) Source Data Verification
(26:18) External Review Board
(26:57) Walk It Off
(28:16) An Unhealthy Weight Can Be Worse Than You Realize
(29:04) Our GLP-1 Price Cheap
(30:55) Right To Die Should Include Right To Try
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First published:

March 17th, 2026


Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ypnYfPmn6FqAyxCpJ/medical-roundup-7

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It is that time again.

After events surrounding Anthropic and the Department of War, I plan on taking full advantage of whatever lulls I can get. Things are only going to move faster over time.

That means a higher bar for coverage, and it means potentially skipping more days, or using those days for short posts that either spin off fun little things or that embody concepts I want to refer back to over time.

In the meantime, here's everything that doesn’t go anywhere else, and that does not want to fully stand on its own.

Table of Contents


Sauce For The Goose.

Age Verification Has Severe Issues.

Bad News.

A Pattern Language.

Good Advice.

While I Cannot Condone This.

Locking In.

Subscription Price Dynamics Are Weird.

Good News, Everyone.

For Your Entertainment.

Slay The Spire II.

Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game.

The Gathering Is Magical.

Sports Go Sports.

Government Working.

Not Great, Britain.

Variously Effective Altruism.

The Road To Hell.

Jones Act Watch.

Patrick McKenzie Periodically.

The Lighter Side.
[...] ---
Outline:
(00:43) Sauce For The Goose
(01:44) Age Verification Has Severe Issues
(02:43) Bad News
(03:24) A Pattern Language
(04:32) Good Advice
(09:40) While I Cannot Condone This
(13:36) Locking In
(15:10) Subscription Price Dynamics Are Weird
(17:34) Good News, Everyone
(20:28) For Your Entertainment
(21:25) Slay The Spire II
(24:36) Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game
(27:35) The Gathering Is Magical
(32:43) Sports Go Sports
(34:38) Government Working
(41:00) Not Great, Britain
(42:46) Variously Effective Altruism
(44:22) The Road To Hell
(45:28) Jones Act Watch
(47:30) Patrick McKenzie Periodically
(57:32) The Lighter Side
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First published:

March 16th, 2026


Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Y8c4kh6fjkWu7Auxp/monthly-roundup-40-march-2026

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