Thoughts on the option of starting AI safety work as a volunteer? There’s some good evals that have been made by independent researchers in their own time, and I think 80,000 hours has suggested something like this as a first step to get a job.
In my personal experience a layoff often comes with burnout that can take a while to recover from, and impact may be a welcome excuse to take a break from the zero-sum rat race of job apps and to read some papers and play around with LLMs.
I think getting a job at an AI safety org historically has required exceptional talent or exceptional passion and peristence, though not necessarily both. In a recent hiring round at my org, we had a flood qualified candidates and had to turn down good people with both. I think that a lot of these people could be (and in some cases already are) doing great work even if they’re not getting paid for it.
If/when future funding comes more volunteers means a community ready to absorb it and grow (and regardless it means more important work gets done)!
Thoughts on the option of starting AI safety work as a volunteer? There’s some good evals that have been made by independent researchers in their own time, and I think 80,000 hours has suggested something like this as a first step to get a job.
In my personal experience a layoff often comes with burnout that can take a while to recover from, and impact may be a welcome excuse to take a break from the zero-sum rat race of job apps and to read some papers and play around with LLMs.
I think getting a job at an AI safety org historically has required exceptional talent or exceptional passion and peristence, though not necessarily both. In a recent hiring round at my org, we had a flood qualified candidates and had to turn down good people with both. I think that a lot of these people could be (and in some cases already are) doing great work even if they’re not getting paid for it.
If/when future funding comes more volunteers means a community ready to absorb it and grow (and regardless it means more important work gets done)!