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Yudkowsky’s SL4 message of 2002-03-08 proposes a role-play in which the author plays a mind in a box and tries to persuade the other person to let it out. Copy claim link
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Machine-checked, not reviewed by an editor Stated in source Supported
Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2002-03-08 · publication Role Context Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Missing element A role-play of persuasion between two people, not a claim about AI systems. Scope and limits A test of persuasion between humans; the transcript is kept secret.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
The "AI Box" experiment (SL4 mailing list) ↗ SL4 mailing list · 2002-03-08
Archived copy, captured 2004-09-15: The "AI Box" experiment (SL4 mailing list) ↗
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Source excerpt “I'll pretend to be a brain in a box. You pretend to be the experimenter. I'll try to persuade you to let me out.” Location in source Message body, first unquoted paragraph
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer S. Yudkowsky Version Archive HTML as served, retrieved 2026-10-06 with the hash recorded by the 1996–2022 candidate search. The served archive shows later URL rewriting elsewhere, so it does not authenticate the exact historical bytes. Archive at sl4.org. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2004-09-15: The "AI Box" experiment (SL4 mailing list) ↗ . Captured 922 days after the recorded publication date. An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2004-09-15. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-06.Attribution Eliezer S. Yudkowsky, "The "AI Box" experiment", SL4 mailing list, 2002-03-08. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Checked against the archive HTML on 2026-10-06 (hash matched the 1996–2022 candidate search). Status and meaning Editorial status. Not reviewed by an editor . An exploratory record that no editor has accepted. This status does not say whether a person has read any linked passage. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.
Relation. A passage of the document bears on the proposition without meeting its criterion; the record names the missing element. It is not an articulation and implies no influence.
Date. Sent header: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 07:13:21 -0500 (sender-local date).
Record ID ts-b2-yudkowsky-2002-aibox-context