I think the main skillsets required to set up organizations like this are:
Generic competence related to setting up any organization—you need to talk to funders, find office space, fill out lots of IRS forms, decide on a compensation policy, make a website, and so on.
Ability to lead relevant research. This requires knowledge of running ML research, knowledge of alignment, and management aptitude.
Some way of getting a team, unless you want to start the org out pretty small (which is potentially the right strategy).
It’s really helpful to have a bunch of contacts in EA. For example, I think it’s been really helpful for EA that I spent a few years doing lots of outreach stuff for MIRI, because it means I know a bunch of people who can potentially be recruited or give us advice.
Of course, if you had some of these properties but not the others, many people in EA (eg me) would be very motivated to help you out, by perhaps introducing you to cofounders or helping you with parts you were less experienced with.
People who wanted to start a Redwood competitor should plausibly consider working on an alignment research team somewhere (preferably leading it) and then leaving to start their own team. We’d certainly be happy to host people who had that aspiration (though we’d think that such people should consider the possibility of continuing to host their research inside Redwood instead of leaving).
I think the main skillsets required to set up organizations like this are:
Generic competence related to setting up any organization—you need to talk to funders, find office space, fill out lots of IRS forms, decide on a compensation policy, make a website, and so on.
Ability to lead relevant research. This requires knowledge of running ML research, knowledge of alignment, and management aptitude.
Some way of getting a team, unless you want to start the org out pretty small (which is potentially the right strategy).
It’s really helpful to have a bunch of contacts in EA. For example, I think it’s been really helpful for EA that I spent a few years doing lots of outreach stuff for MIRI, because it means I know a bunch of people who can potentially be recruited or give us advice.
Of course, if you had some of these properties but not the others, many people in EA (eg me) would be very motivated to help you out, by perhaps introducing you to cofounders or helping you with parts you were less experienced with.
People who wanted to start a Redwood competitor should plausibly consider working on an alignment research team somewhere (preferably leading it) and then leaving to start their own team. We’d certainly be happy to host people who had that aspiration (though we’d think that such people should consider the possibility of continuing to host their research inside Redwood instead of leaving).