Haven’t seen anyone mention RAND as a possible best charity for AI stuff and I guess I’d like to throw their hat in the ring or at least invite people to tell me why I’m wrong. My core claims are approximately:
Influencing the US (federal) government is probably one of the most scalable cost-effective routes for AI safety.
Think tanks are one of the most cost-effective ways to influence the US government.
The prestige of the think tank matters for getting into the room/influencing change.
Rand is among the most prestigious think tank doing AI safety work.
It’s also probably the most value-aligned, given Jason Matheny is in charge.
You can earmark donations to the catastrophic risks/emerging risks departments
I’ll add I have no idea if they need/have asked for marginal funding.
I don’t know unfortunately, basically just going off trusting the leadership to be cost effective plus they are in a really good position to influence policy/executive orders.
I am seeing here that they already work closely with Open Philanthropy and were involved in drafting the Executive Order on AI. So this does not seem like a neglected avenue.
Yea I have no idea if they actually need money but if they still want to hire more people to the AI team wouldn’t it be better to give the money to RAND to hire those policymakers rather than like the Americans for Responsible Innovation—which open phil currently recommends but is much less prestigious and I’m not sure if they are working side by side with legislators. The fact that open phil gave grants but doesn’t currently recommend for individual donors makes me think you are right that they don’t need money atm but it would be nice to be sure.
Haven’t seen anyone mention RAND as a possible best charity for AI stuff and I guess I’d like to throw their hat in the ring or at least invite people to tell me why I’m wrong. My core claims are approximately:
Influencing the US (federal) government is probably one of the most scalable cost-effective routes for AI safety.
Think tanks are one of the most cost-effective ways to influence the US government.
The prestige of the think tank matters for getting into the room/influencing change.
Rand is among the most prestigious think tank doing AI safety work.
It’s also probably the most value-aligned, given Jason Matheny is in charge.
You can earmark donations to the catastrophic risks/emerging risks departments
I’ll add I have no idea if they need/have asked for marginal funding.
What have they done or are planning to do that seems worth supporting?
I don’t know unfortunately, basically just going off trusting the leadership to be cost effective plus they are in a really good position to influence policy/executive orders.
I am seeing here that they already work closely with Open Philanthropy and were involved in drafting the Executive Order on AI. So this does not seem like a neglected avenue.
Yea I have no idea if they actually need money but if they still want to hire more people to the AI team wouldn’t it be better to give the money to RAND to hire those policymakers rather than like the Americans for Responsible Innovation—which open phil currently recommends but is much less prestigious and I’m not sure if they are working side by side with legislators. The fact that open phil gave grants but doesn’t currently recommend for individual donors makes me think you are right that they don’t need money atm but it would be nice to be sure.