Why it’s good: Benchmarks have been a big driver of progress in AI. Benchmarks for ML safety could be a great way to drive progress in AI alignment, and get people to switch from capabilities-ish research to safety-ish research. The structure of the prize looks good: They’re offering a lot of money, there are still over 6 months until the submission deadline, and all they’re asking for is a brief write-up. Thinking up benchmarks also seems like the sort of problem that’s a good fit for a prize. My only gripe with the competition is that it doesn’t seem widely known, hence posting here.
I wonder if a good standard rule for prizes is that you want a marketing budget which is at least 10-20% the size of the prize pool, for buying ads on podcasts ML researchers listen to or subreddits they read or whatever. Another idea is to incentivize people to make submissions publicly, so your contest promotes itself.
Title: Prizes for ML Safety Benchmark Ideas
Author: Joshc, Dan H
URL: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jo7hmLrhy576zEyiL/prizes-for-ml-safety-benchmark-ideas
Why it’s good: Benchmarks have been a big driver of progress in AI. Benchmarks for ML safety could be a great way to drive progress in AI alignment, and get people to switch from capabilities-ish research to safety-ish research. The structure of the prize looks good: They’re offering a lot of money, there are still over 6 months until the submission deadline, and all they’re asking for is a brief write-up. Thinking up benchmarks also seems like the sort of problem that’s a good fit for a prize. My only gripe with the competition is that it doesn’t seem widely known, hence posting here.
I wonder if a good standard rule for prizes is that you want a marketing budget which is at least 10-20% the size of the prize pool, for buying ads on podcasts ML researchers listen to or subreddits they read or whatever. Another idea is to incentivize people to make submissions publicly, so your contest promotes itself.