“Alex Turner on Leaving Google DeepMind and Disagreements with Yudkowsky” by Liron

Dr. Alex Turner (@TurnTrout) is an AI safety researcher with pioneering work in activation steering and power-seeking theory. He recently resigned from Google DeepMind over the issue of unrestricted military use of AI.

Alex thinks that technical Alignment research is going “super awesome” relative to his 2021 projections, doesn’t explicitly endorse the PauseAI movement, and sees many flaws in Yudkowsky's List of Lethalities.

I interviewed him about:

• Leaving Google DeepMind on principle
• His mainline AI doom scenario
• Disagreements with Yudkowsky's List of Lethalities
• Support inside AI companies for coordinating to pause AI

Some additional context Alex wanted to note:

I think alignment is going "super awesome" compared to the world I thought​ we were in in 2021, where it was basically impossible. I'm not super pleased objectively speaking. And in fact soon after [recording our interview on July 21] I updated towards harder due to the security incidents and the "hardcore" aspect of AI goal pursuit relative to prompt intensity.

Video

Audio/Podcast

Listen on Spotify, search “Doom Debates” in your podcast player, download the mp3 file, or open the Podcast RSS feed in your app of choice.

Transcript

Cold Open

Liron Shapira 00:00:00
You resigned from Google [...]

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Outline:

(01:24) Video

(01:27) Audio/Podcast

(01:40) Transcript

(01:43) Cold Open

(03:17) Introducing Alex Turner

(04:49) From Harry Potter Fanfic to AI Alignment

(07:54) Meeting Quintin Pope & Rethinking AI Doom

(09:11) Shard Theory, Steering Vectors & Golden Gate Claude

(11:47) Why He Joined Google DeepMind

(13:40) Google DeepMind's Broken Promise

(18:51) Debating Google DeepMind's Pentagon Contract

(22:36) What's Your P(Doom)™?

(26:52) Alex's Research on Instrumental Convergence

(30:59) Misuse vs. Misalignment: The Mainline Doom Scenario

(33:50) Will Society Self-Correct?

(41:03) Superintelligence in 10 Years

(44:43) Will Technical Alignment Produce a Safe AI?

(46:27) Donation Drive

(47:42) How Fragile Is the Chain of Alignment?

(57:40) Disagreements with Yudkowsky's 'List of Lethalities'

(01:06:21) Why Alex Quit LessWrong

(01:11:10) What's Next for Alex

(01:12:18) Does He Support PauseAI? Stop the AI Race?

(01:14:34) Wrap-Up

(01:16:43) Producer Ori's Closing Note

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First published:
August 5th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vHGSPhGryqNmXrJpg/alex-turner-on-leaving-google-deepmind-and-disagreements

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.