The Aporia · Open Thread 447

Open Thread 447

Read the original at Astral Codex Ten ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

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.

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 by AI on 2026-08-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

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 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(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

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

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

Technology

Same framing elsewhere

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 · 64 article(s) · 4 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

51 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction

🔮 A picaresque (broadly speaking) is about a lowlife wandering around having comical misadventures; Huckleberry Finn (1884) would be a notable American example.

2026-10-30 · assertive framing · Your Book Review: The History And Adventures Of An Atom

🔮 On average, commenters will end up spotting evidence that around two or three of the links in each links post are wrong or misleading.

2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Links For October 2026

🔮 California State Propositions Proposition 1: Authorizes $11.25 billion in bonds to build affordable housing Supporters claim it will build (or renovate) 40,000 homes; I asked an AI superforecaster1 to predict the true number, and it guessed that 22,000 would actually get built.

2026-10-28 · assertive framing · My California Ballot, 2026

🔮 I may have more of these in the upcoming week.

2026-10-19 · assertive framing · Open Thread 456

🔮 [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.

2026-10-17 · assertive framing · Your Book Review: Storm Of Steel

🔮 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

Also by Scott Alexander

Your Book Review: The History And Adventures Of An Atom

2026-10-30 · Astral Codex Ten

Links For October 2026

2026-10-29 · Astral Codex Ten

My California Ballot, 2026

2026-10-28 · Astral Codex Ten

Open Thread 456

2026-10-19 · Astral Codex Ten

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 51 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