# Chapter 03: Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence

> From 'we will build Friendly AI' to early catastrophic risk warnings

Canonical URL: https://foom.hyperplex.org/chapter/siai

Timeline: 2000–~2012

Yudkowsky’s first organization, founded in July 2000 with seed funding from Brian and Sabine Atkins. Its mission was to create a Friendly, self-improving Artificial Intelligence and thereby bring about the Singularity.

As the Institute's own technical efforts looked increasingly fruitless while a neural network renaissance bloomed, the Institute turned its attention toward the catastrophic risks posed by unaligned AI, which soon became central to its public work.

## Predictions in this chapter

- [Neural nets: “certainly Not Sufficient”](https://foom.hyperplex.org/p/connectionism/index.html.md): Falsified: 2023; predicted 2000.
- [Hard takeoff in a basement within ten years](https://foom.hyperplex.org/p/basement/index.html.md): Falsified: 2011; predicted 2001.
- [“Three hours to transhumanity”](https://foom.hyperplex.org/p/cfai/index.html.md): Retracted: 2008; predicted 2001.
- [Time to Singularity: “2005–2020, peak 2008–2010”](https://foom.hyperplex.org/p/ets/index.html.md): Falsified: 2020; predicted 2001.
- [SIAI ships transhuman AI ~2008–2010](https://foom.hyperplex.org/p/siai/index.html.md): Falsified: 2010; predicted 2001.
- [“Dead certain”: days to nanotech](https://foom.hyperplex.org/p/takeoff/index.html.md): Falsified: 2023; predicted 2002.

## Chapter sources

- [Singularity Institute Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/2002/http://singinst.org/)
- [CFAI Essay](https://intelligence.org/files/CFAI.pdf)