This is something that I’ve thought about as I look to get into AI Safety in the context of: How might I set good boundaries with peers and myself when entering an org? How do I strike the right balance of being engaged and committed to my team while protecting myself?
The backdrop is an environment where:
The stakes of getting it wrong feel incredibly high
There’s not enough people
The backlog is already massive and growing as frontier labs race ahead
In basically every line of work, there’s always going to be more to possibly do than you’re going to have time for. The to-do list never ends.
Rutger Bregman touched on this some in his School for Moral Ambition book. He points out that many people work on efforts across their lifetime, and that you’re least effective if you burn out and have to quit. (And probably more, paraphrasing from memory).
With that in mind, expanding on your ideas:
A good AI safety news newsletter—I’m subscribed to a couple of these, a general from Vox and one for climate change. The goal is to remind us that real progress is being made on real issues, and that its not all doom and gloom.
Building it into the culture of the work:
Create a documented plan—A template would be helpful. Identify what you care about and why. Identify the risks of burnout and other mental health challenges you face. How you might mitigate them (your work/life boundaries, hobbies outside of work, forcing time off, sabbaticals, etc). Ideally, this happens before you start a role as its a lot easier to do this when clear of the everyday grind.
Put it into action—Be up front with your manager or team. Ideally you could all share. This creates an upfront expectation so that your team isn’t left wondering why you’re pulling back, or you feel guilty and keep pushing instead of taking the break you need.
This is something that I’ve thought about as I look to get into AI Safety in the context of: How might I set good boundaries with peers and myself when entering an org? How do I strike the right balance of being engaged and committed to my team while protecting myself?
The backdrop is an environment where:
The stakes of getting it wrong feel incredibly high
There’s not enough people
The backlog is already massive and growing as frontier labs race ahead
In basically every line of work, there’s always going to be more to possibly do than you’re going to have time for. The to-do list never ends.
Rutger Bregman touched on this some in his School for Moral Ambition book. He points out that many people work on efforts across their lifetime, and that you’re least effective if you burn out and have to quit. (And probably more, paraphrasing from memory).
With that in mind, expanding on your ideas:
A good AI safety news newsletter—I’m subscribed to a couple of these, a general from Vox and one for climate change. The goal is to remind us that real progress is being made on real issues, and that its not all doom and gloom.
Building it into the culture of the work:
Create a documented plan—A template would be helpful. Identify what you care about and why. Identify the risks of burnout and other mental health challenges you face. How you might mitigate them (your work/life boundaries, hobbies outside of work, forcing time off, sabbaticals, etc). Ideally, this happens before you start a role as its a lot easier to do this when clear of the everyday grind.
Put it into action—Be up front with your manager or team. Ideally you could all share. This creates an upfront expectation so that your team isn’t left wondering why you’re pulling back, or you feel guilty and keep pushing instead of taking the break you need.
Rutger Bergman ;-)
Thanks, corrected!
What is, “Rutger Bregman”? disagree votes made me google...