Policy work / international coordination. Figuring out how to build an aligned AI is only part of the problem. You also need to ensure that an aligned AI is built, and that’s a lot harder to do during an international arms race. (A race to the finish would be pretty bad, I think.)
I’d like to see a lot more people figuring out how to ensure global stability & coordination as we enter a time period that may be fairly dangerous.
I’m currently under the impression that American health insurance prices American lives at ~$10mil, but I don’t have any sources on hand. Americans do, however, pour money into safety measures (such as emission controls) which save far less than 1 life per million dollars (in expectation); see p78 here. I’m actually not sure how much it would cost to save the next marginal developed-nation life.