Does “Learning the Basics” specifically mean learning AI Safety basics, or does this also include foundational AI/ML (in general, not just safety) learning? I’m wondering because I’m curious if you mean that the things under “Learning the Basics” could be done with little/no background in ML.
Good question. I think “Learning the Basics” is specific to AI Safety basics and does not require a strong background in AI/ML. My sense is that the AI Safety basics and ML are slightly independent. The ML side of things simply isn’t pictured here. For example, the MLAB (Machine Learning for Alignment Bootcamp) program which ran a few months ago focused on taking people with good software engineering skills and bringing them up to speed on ML. As far as I can tell, the focus was not on alignment specifically, but was intended for people likely to work in alignment. I think the story of what’s happening is way more complicated than a 1 dimensional (plus org size) chart, and the skills needed might be an intersection of software engineering, ML, and AI Safety basics.
Thanks for this!
Does “Learning the Basics” specifically mean learning AI Safety basics, or does this also include foundational AI/ML (in general, not just safety) learning? I’m wondering because I’m curious if you mean that the things under “Learning the Basics” could be done with little/no background in ML.
Good question. I think “Learning the Basics” is specific to AI Safety basics and does not require a strong background in AI/ML. My sense is that the AI Safety basics and ML are slightly independent. The ML side of things simply isn’t pictured here. For example, the MLAB (Machine Learning for Alignment Bootcamp) program which ran a few months ago focused on taking people with good software engineering skills and bringing them up to speed on ML. As far as I can tell, the focus was not on alignment specifically, but was intended for people likely to work in alignment. I think the story of what’s happening is way more complicated than a 1 dimensional (plus org size) chart, and the skills needed might be an intersection of software engineering, ML, and AI Safety basics.