Just to give your final point some context: the average in-depth research project by Rethink Priorities reportedly costs $70K-$100K. So, if this AI Impacts survey cost $138K in participant compensation, plus some additional amount for things like researcher time, then it looks like this survey was two or three times more expensive than the average research project in its approximate reference class.
I haven’t thought hard about whether the costs of EA-funded research make sense in general, but I thought I’d leave this comment so that readers don’t go away thinking that this survey cost like an order of magnitude more than what’s standard.
Just to give your final point some context: the average in-depth research project by Rethink Priorities reportedly costs $70K-$100K. So, if this AI Impacts survey cost $138K in participant compensation, plus some additional amount for things like researcher time, then it looks like this survey was two or three times more expensive than the average research project in its approximate reference class.
I haven’t thought hard about whether the costs of EA-funded research make sense in general, but I thought I’d leave this comment so that readers don’t go away thinking that this survey cost like an order of magnitude more than what’s standard.