The Nonlinear Library EA - AI governance talent profiles I'd like to see apply for OP funding by JulianHazell
Dec 19, 2023
04:59
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: AI governance talent profiles I'd like to see apply for OP funding, published by JulianHazell on December 19, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
We (Open Philanthropy) have a program called the "
Career Development and Transition Funding Program" (CDTF) - see this recent
Forum post for more information on the recent updates we made to it.
This program supports a variety of activities, including (but not necessarily limited to) graduate study, unpaid internships, self-study, career transition and exploration periods, postdocs, obtaining professional certifications, online courses, and other types of one-off career-capital-building activities. To learn more about the entire scope of the CTDF program, I'd encourage you to read the full description on our website, which contains a broad list of hypothetical applicant profiles that we're looking for.
This brief post, which partially stems from research I recently conducted through conversations with numerous AI governance experts about current talent needs, serves as an addendum to the existing information on the CDTF page. Here, I'll outline a few talent profiles I'm particularly excited about getting involved in the AI governance space. To be clear: this list is only a small slice of the many different talent profiles I'd be excited to see apply to the CDTF program - there are many other promising talent profiles out there that I won't manage to cover below.
My aim is not just to encourage more applicants from these sorts of folks to the CDTF program, but also to broadly describe what I see as some pressing talent pipeline gaps in the AI governance ecosystem more generally.
Hypothetical talent profiles I'm excited about
A hardware engineer at a leading chip design company (Nvidia), chip manufacturer (TSMC), chip manufacturing equipment manufacturer (ASML) or cloud compute provider (Microsoft, Google, Amazon) who has recently become interested in developing
hardware-focused interventions and policies that could reduce risks from advanced AI systems via improved coordination.
A machine learning researcher who wants to pivot to working on the technical side of AI governance research and policy, such as evaluations, threat assessments, or other aspects of
AI control.
An information security specialist who has played a pivotal role in safeguarding sensitive data and systems at a major tech company, and would like to use those learnings to
secure advanced AI systems from theft.
Someone with 10+ years of professional experience, excellent interpersonal and management skills, and an interest in transitioning to policy work in the US, UK, or EU.
A policy professional who has spent years working in DC, with a strong track record of driving influential policy changes. This individual could have experience either in government as a policy advisor or in a think tank or advocacy group, and has developed a deep understanding of the political landscape and how to navigate it. An additional bonus would be if the person has experience driving bipartisan policy change by working with both sides of the aisle.
A legal scholar or practicing lawyer with experience in technology, antitrust, and/or liability law, who is interested in applying these skills to
legal questions relevant to the development and deployment of frontier AI systems.
A US national security expert with experience in international agreements and treaties, who wants to produce
policy reports that consider potential security implications of advanced AI systems.
An experienced academic with an interdisciplinary background. They have strong mentoring skills, and a clear vision for establishing and leading an AI governance research institution at a leading university focused on exploring questions such as
measuring and benchmarking AI capabilities.
A biologist who has either ...
We (Open Philanthropy) have a program called the "
Career Development and Transition Funding Program" (CDTF) - see this recent
Forum post for more information on the recent updates we made to it.
This program supports a variety of activities, including (but not necessarily limited to) graduate study, unpaid internships, self-study, career transition and exploration periods, postdocs, obtaining professional certifications, online courses, and other types of one-off career-capital-building activities. To learn more about the entire scope of the CTDF program, I'd encourage you to read the full description on our website, which contains a broad list of hypothetical applicant profiles that we're looking for.
This brief post, which partially stems from research I recently conducted through conversations with numerous AI governance experts about current talent needs, serves as an addendum to the existing information on the CDTF page. Here, I'll outline a few talent profiles I'm particularly excited about getting involved in the AI governance space. To be clear: this list is only a small slice of the many different talent profiles I'd be excited to see apply to the CDTF program - there are many other promising talent profiles out there that I won't manage to cover below.
My aim is not just to encourage more applicants from these sorts of folks to the CDTF program, but also to broadly describe what I see as some pressing talent pipeline gaps in the AI governance ecosystem more generally.
Hypothetical talent profiles I'm excited about
A hardware engineer at a leading chip design company (Nvidia), chip manufacturer (TSMC), chip manufacturing equipment manufacturer (ASML) or cloud compute provider (Microsoft, Google, Amazon) who has recently become interested in developing
hardware-focused interventions and policies that could reduce risks from advanced AI systems via improved coordination.
A machine learning researcher who wants to pivot to working on the technical side of AI governance research and policy, such as evaluations, threat assessments, or other aspects of
AI control.
An information security specialist who has played a pivotal role in safeguarding sensitive data and systems at a major tech company, and would like to use those learnings to
secure advanced AI systems from theft.
Someone with 10+ years of professional experience, excellent interpersonal and management skills, and an interest in transitioning to policy work in the US, UK, or EU.
A policy professional who has spent years working in DC, with a strong track record of driving influential policy changes. This individual could have experience either in government as a policy advisor or in a think tank or advocacy group, and has developed a deep understanding of the political landscape and how to navigate it. An additional bonus would be if the person has experience driving bipartisan policy change by working with both sides of the aisle.
A legal scholar or practicing lawyer with experience in technology, antitrust, and/or liability law, who is interested in applying these skills to
legal questions relevant to the development and deployment of frontier AI systems.
A US national security expert with experience in international agreements and treaties, who wants to produce
policy reports that consider potential security implications of advanced AI systems.
An experienced academic with an interdisciplinary background. They have strong mentoring skills, and a clear vision for establishing and leading an AI governance research institution at a leading university focused on exploring questions such as
measuring and benchmarking AI capabilities.
A biologist who has either ...