Uncontainability research index

Discover theknowable limits.

A navigable database designed to give you the most familiar orientation to formal work on the boundaries of AGI containability.

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A balanced mix of conceptual arguments and formal results.

29 results · showing 1–10Sorted by balanced depth

About

Most AI safety research asks how to control and align advanced systems. Some researchers ask whether that is possible at all and are working to prove it formally.

This index collects the strongest work toward those formal results, organized so that researchers, policymakers, and funders can each find what matters most to their domain. It is curated and growing, not comprehensive. If you know of work that belongs here, reach out.

Beyond the index, the Project organizes collaborations and workshops, supports researchers in securing funding, translates results into concrete policy recommendations, and is developing a lecture series and educational materials that make the formal foundations accessible to new audiences.

Although we prioritize formal methods, we use the word “uncontainability” informally. We include in the project attempts at proving the impossibility of all of the following: preventing an AGI/ASI from doing unanticipated harm, keeping AGI/ASI contained inside a hardware and software system, and preventing a rogue AGI/ASI from consolidating unbounded physical resources to its own use and replication.

We see ourselves as a part of a small but growing ecosystem pursuing mathematical formal methods to address AI Risks. Others include Iliad and Resolution. More projects in this vein can be found on the Math for AI Safety site. If you'd like to contribute to The Uncontainability Project, please message us below.