From my perspective as a researcher not involved with fieldbuilding, this post misses an important distinction. I do occasionally suggest that new people take a BlueDot course (or apply to AI Safety Camp, or SPAR, or one of the other excellent programs out there), but far more often than that I point new people to the BlueDot curriculum. I commonly see others doing the same; I think it’s become the default AIS 101 reading. Maybe you’re mistaking that for people pushing the BlueDot course on everyone new to the field?
As a more general and perhaps contrarian pushback: AI safety (other than governance) isn’t at all a local problem, and so there’s no particular reason to focus on local groups. I realize that some people find it inherently motivating to be in the same room with other people in their own community and build social bonds, so there’s some value there. But in general I think it’s more valuable for people to find ways to fill important vacant niches in the AIS ecosystem than to focus on replicating another organization but in <location>. That can be supplemented with informal local groups that exist to serve those social needs.
It’s well-known that the AIS community is mentor and management-constrained
That’s not obvious to me; I do think there are constraints there but my sense is that the field is currently mainly bottlenecked by funding (1, 2).
If you have a young friend interested in AI Safety, they might just be fine with taking a local group’s course if they have the opportunity. It won’t be run as professionally as Bluedot’s course, but they are more likely to give AI Safety the benefit of the doubt.
Why are they more likely to give AIS the benefit of the doubt? Won’t that be most likely to happen if their exposure is to the highest-quality course they have access to?
Hey Egg, thanks for your comment! Here are my thoughts:
but far more often than that I point new people to the BlueDot curriculum. I commonly see others doing the same; I think it’s become the default AIS 101 reading. Maybe you’re mistaking that for people pushing the BlueDot course on everyone new to the field?
This totally makes sense, I do the same, though I think if people have the opportunity to take a “live” course that is more beneficial. What this post aims to respond to is the notion that, given that Bluedot exists as an organisation, people conclude that there is no need to start local fieldbuilding initiatives (something I come across quite often). Hope that clarifies!
AI safety (other than governance) isn’t at all a local problem, and so there’s no particular reason to focus on local groups.
Agreed! However, looking at the many benefits that such initiatives provide (some of which you mentioned, and the others I outline in the post) I think it is justified to run them.
[on AIS being management constrained] That’s not obvious to me; I do think there are constraints there but my sense is that the field is currently mainly bottlenecked by funding (1, 2)
I could concede that the main bottleneck is funding right now. My current guess on funding gaps is that up until now, it was possible to get a small “moonshot” grant from LTFF relatively easily (this might change now that they pivoted to doing funding rounds), but then projects will fail to maintain funding once they need over 100k USD. For orgs that can fundraise from OP, money is less of an issue.
Why are they more likely to give AIS the benefit of the doubt? Won’t that be most likely to happen if their exposure is to the highest-quality course they have access to?
What I mean here is that if you are introduced to a local AIS community through a friend who is also part of that group, you are more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt even if the course is not run as professionally as Bluedot’s. Compared to such a person, I expect it’s better for an experienced professional to take Bluedot’s course instead of one organised by university students or fresh graduates. The quality of materials is important in either case!
From my perspective as a researcher not involved with fieldbuilding, this post misses an important distinction. I do occasionally suggest that new people take a BlueDot course (or apply to AI Safety Camp, or SPAR, or one of the other excellent programs out there), but far more often than that I point new people to the BlueDot curriculum. I commonly see others doing the same; I think it’s become the default AIS 101 reading. Maybe you’re mistaking that for people pushing the BlueDot course on everyone new to the field?
As a more general and perhaps contrarian pushback: AI safety (other than governance) isn’t at all a local problem, and so there’s no particular reason to focus on local groups. I realize that some people find it inherently motivating to be in the same room with other people in their own community and build social bonds, so there’s some value there. But in general I think it’s more valuable for people to find ways to fill important vacant niches in the AIS ecosystem than to focus on replicating another organization but in <location>. That can be supplemented with informal local groups that exist to serve those social needs.
That’s not obvious to me; I do think there are constraints there but my sense is that the field is currently mainly bottlenecked by funding (1, 2).
Why are they more likely to give AIS the benefit of the doubt? Won’t that be most likely to happen if their exposure is to the highest-quality course they have access to?
Hey Egg, thanks for your comment! Here are my thoughts:
This totally makes sense, I do the same, though I think if people have the opportunity to take a “live” course that is more beneficial. What this post aims to respond to is the notion that, given that Bluedot exists as an organisation, people conclude that there is no need to start local fieldbuilding initiatives (something I come across quite often). Hope that clarifies!
Agreed! However, looking at the many benefits that such initiatives provide (some of which you mentioned, and the others I outline in the post) I think it is justified to run them.
I could concede that the main bottleneck is funding right now. My current guess on funding gaps is that up until now, it was possible to get a small “moonshot” grant from LTFF relatively easily (this might change now that they pivoted to doing funding rounds), but then projects will fail to maintain funding once they need over 100k USD. For orgs that can fundraise from OP, money is less of an issue.
What I mean here is that if you are introduced to a local AIS community through a friend who is also part of that group, you are more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt even if the course is not run as professionally as Bluedot’s. Compared to such a person, I expect it’s better for an experienced professional to take Bluedot’s course instead of one organised by university students or fresh graduates. The quality of materials is important in either case!