Disclaimer: I joined OP two weeks ago in the Program Associate role on the Technical AI Safety team. I’m leaving some comments describing questions I wanted to know to assess whether I should take the job (which, obviously, I ended up doing).
What does OP’s TAIS funding go to? Don’t professors’ salaries already get paid by their universities? Can (or can’t) PhD students in AI get no-strings-attached funding (at least, can PhD students at prestigious universities)?
Disclaimer: I joined OP two weeks ago in the Program Associate role on the Technical AI Safety team. I’m leaving some comments describing questions I wanted to know to assess whether I should take the job (which, obviously, I ended up doing).
What sorts of personal/career development does the PA role provide? What are the pros and cons of this path over e.g. technical research (which has relatively clear professional development in the form of published papers, academic degrees, high-status job titles that bring public credibility)?