Hey Sandra, thanks for your questions. Hopefully the following clarifications will help give useful context as to why we’re excited about this space.
The scope of our program
The office space and our broader project is a university program focused exclusively on AI. It is not an EA space, and it’s not meant to do EA community building in Mexico. Many of our fellows and visitors are not part of the EA community. We would be happy to see other initiatives aimed at EA community building in Mexico and Mexico City.
We would like to point out that the program is part of a Mexican university. Jaime and I (the two primary staff members) are from Colombia, and the vast majority of our colleagues at ITAM who have worked closely with us on various aspects of the fellowship are Mexicans. We’re really grateful for their work and want to make sure their work is acknowledged.
Some benefits of this space
We have carefully considered the upsides and downsides of the current coworking space, and are now pretty confident about choosing it. This is both for logistical reasons and because we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from fellows and visitors (several of them Latin Americans).
We’ve found the space is worth the cost and in practice cheaper than many alternatives because it offers all the operational facilities that the fellowship needs. If we had picked a different coworking space, we would have had to compensate by hiring an additional staff member to figure out things like catering, hosting talks, furniture, etc. It is worth noting that the staff curates a weekly menu for us to accommodate vegans. From our experiences with other event spaces in CDMX and LMICs, this is quite hard to find. Given this is a university program, there are additional constraints and requirements for the space(s) we use.
We also have considered locals, and people from latam and LMICs more generally
We have thought a lot about the effects of programs like these on locals, and much of our work is aimed at diversifying the pool of people working on important problems within AI.
The current set up of the coworking space has meant we have been able to accept visitors from LMICs and subsidize spots for those who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise.
Condesa is a more gentrified and international area of Mexico City. In our experience, that has come with some benefits for a global program like ours. For example amenities as you mention, but also allowing fellows and visitors from other low and middle income countries and underrepresented backgrounds to move comfortably around the area (e.g. non-spanish speakers from other LMICs).
We were surprised to hear your concerns, as we haven’t received any similar feedback so far (just for quick context to readers: the writer of these comments has never been to our office space). We aren’t aware of any incidents of discrimination experienced during our fellowship or the co-working space more generally - we’ve found the staff (most are Mexican) of the broader co-working space (imagine a WeWork) to be very kind and welcoming. If there are specific incidents you’re aware of, we’d encourage you to let us, or the Community Health team know.
While we are part of a Mexican university, and are mindful and respectful of local norms, we are also proud of having kickstarted a programme with a truly global focus in which members from various cultural backgrounds feel welcome.
Hi Angela, thank you for your response. I never questioned this space for the AI fellowship, I’m glad you chose the best space for your program.
But now you are talking about a coworking in Mexico or Mexico City (obviously related to the EA alignment fields, that’s why you are posting it on this forum). It would be naive to think that it wouldn’t be the main space where people and organizations related to the themes we work on would attend, that’s what you are inviting them to in the post.
Moreover, you know that for people in Mexico, coworking is very important; you reviewed a project presented by locals about it and know what the local community wants and our concerns about that space (And last year you believed that was not a good idea). If it’s a coworking exclusively for the AI fellowship, you should clarify that and also that at least part of the community in Mexico does not feel comfortable attending. And invite you to reflect on the negative impact of this situation, again not because of the space you chose for your program but because you want this space to be “the space in Mexico” ignoring several complaints that several ones had since the last year.
Hey Sandra, thanks for your questions. Hopefully the following clarifications will help give useful context as to why we’re excited about this space.
The scope of our program
The office space and our broader project is a university program focused exclusively on AI. It is not an EA space, and it’s not meant to do EA community building in Mexico. Many of our fellows and visitors are not part of the EA community. We would be happy to see other initiatives aimed at EA community building in Mexico and Mexico City.
We would like to point out that the program is part of a Mexican university. Jaime and I (the two primary staff members) are from Colombia, and the vast majority of our colleagues at ITAM who have worked closely with us on various aspects of the fellowship are Mexicans. We’re really grateful for their work and want to make sure their work is acknowledged.
Some benefits of this space
We have carefully considered the upsides and downsides of the current coworking space, and are now pretty confident about choosing it. This is both for logistical reasons and because we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from fellows and visitors (several of them Latin Americans).
We’ve found the space is worth the cost and in practice cheaper than many alternatives because it offers all the operational facilities that the fellowship needs. If we had picked a different coworking space, we would have had to compensate by hiring an additional staff member to figure out things like catering, hosting talks, furniture, etc. It is worth noting that the staff curates a weekly menu for us to accommodate vegans. From our experiences with other event spaces in CDMX and LMICs, this is quite hard to find. Given this is a university program, there are additional constraints and requirements for the space(s) we use.
We also have considered locals, and people from latam and LMICs more generally
We have thought a lot about the effects of programs like these on locals, and much of our work is aimed at diversifying the pool of people working on important problems within AI.
The current set up of the coworking space has meant we have been able to accept visitors from LMICs and subsidize spots for those who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise.
Condesa is a more gentrified and international area of Mexico City. In our experience, that has come with some benefits for a global program like ours. For example amenities as you mention, but also allowing fellows and visitors from other low and middle income countries and underrepresented backgrounds to move comfortably around the area (e.g. non-spanish speakers from other LMICs).
We were surprised to hear your concerns, as we haven’t received any similar feedback so far (just for quick context to readers: the writer of these comments has never been to our office space). We aren’t aware of any incidents of discrimination experienced during our fellowship or the co-working space more generally - we’ve found the staff (most are Mexican) of the broader co-working space (imagine a WeWork) to be very kind and welcoming. If there are specific incidents you’re aware of, we’d encourage you to let us, or the Community Health team know.
While we are part of a Mexican university, and are mindful and respectful of local norms, we are also proud of having kickstarted a programme with a truly global focus in which members from various cultural backgrounds feel welcome.
Hi Angela, thank you for your response. I never questioned this space for the AI fellowship, I’m glad you chose the best space for your program.
But now you are talking about a coworking in Mexico or Mexico City (obviously related to the EA alignment fields, that’s why you are posting it on this forum). It would be naive to think that it wouldn’t be the main space where people and organizations related to the themes we work on would attend, that’s what you are inviting them to in the post.
Moreover, you know that for people in Mexico, coworking is very important; you reviewed a project presented by locals about it and know what the local community wants and our concerns about that space (And last year you believed that was not a good idea). If it’s a coworking exclusively for the AI fellowship, you should clarify that and also that at least part of the community in Mexico does not feel comfortable attending. And invite you to reflect on the negative impact of this situation, again not because of the space you chose for your program but because you want this space to be “the space in Mexico” ignoring several complaints that several ones had since the last year.