Your project lead application will mainly be evaluated based on your project proposal (see next question).  We think that if you can produce a good plan, you can probably also lead a good project. However we still have some minimum requirements on you as a project lead. 

The most important requirement is that you have enough time to allocate to your AISC project. You will need to read applications and conduct interviews before the start of the program, and you need to spend at least 10h per week on your project throughout the program.

Becoming a Project Lead means taking on the responsibility for the project, including the time and effort of everyone involved with it. Team members will trust you to direct their efforts effectively according to the vision for the project, especially when unforeseen things happen. Your job is to live up to that trust.

For projects to stop harmful AI developments, we ask of you to have already overseen work in the area you want to lead a team in – or to send us a solid plan to recruit and rely on teammates who have. For example, if you want to organise with tech workers to build collective bargaining power, you'll need experience doing that.

If you’re going to lead a research project you need to have some research experience, preferably in AI safety but any research background is ok. For example, if you are at least 1 year into a PhD or if you have completed an AI Safety research program (such as a previous AI Safety Camp, MATS, PIBBSS, etc), or if you have done a research internship, then you are qualified. Other research experience counts too. If you are unsure, feel free to contact us.

We also accept non-research projects. In this case you’ll need some relevant experience for your particular project, which we’ll evaluate on a case by case basis. 

Regardless of project, you also need some familiarity with the topic or research area of your project. You don’t need to have every skill required for your project yourself, since you will not be doing your project alone. But you need to understand your project area well enough to know what your knowledge gaps are, so you know what skills you are recruiting for.

As part of the project lead application process we will help you improve your project plan, mainly through comments on your document, but we also aim to have at least one 1-on-1 call with every applicant. Your application will not be judged based on your initial proposal, but on the refined proposal, after you had the opportunity to respond to our feedback. 

Every project is different, and we’ll tell each PL applicant which (if any) aspects you need to improve to be accepted. But in broad strokes, your project proposal will be judged based on:

1. Theory of change

What is the theory of impact of your project? Here we are asking about the relevance of your project work for reducing large-scale risks of AI development and deployment. If your project succeeds, can you tell us how this makes the world safer?

2. Project plan and fit for AISC

Do you have a well-thought-out plan for your project? Does this plan have a decent chance to reach the goal you set out for yourself? How well does your plan fit the format of AISC? Is the project something that can be done by a remote team over 3 months? If your project is too ambitious, maybe you want to pick out a smaller sub-goal as the aim of AISC?

3. Downside risk

What are the downside risks of your projects? What is your plan to mitigate any such risk? The most common risk for AI safety projects is that your project may accelerate AI capabilities. If we think your project will enhance capabilities more than safety, we will not accept it

Here’s our template for project proposals. Please follow this template to make it easier for team member applicants to navigate all the projects. 

See here for projects that were accepted for AISC10. You have to follow the links to see the full project proposal for each project. 

• Feedback on your project proposal from the AISC staff.

• Experience leading a team.

• Find collaborators to work with over the months and years ahead.

• Help from your team on making progress on a project of your choosing.

There are many ways to help stop AI. So many that it gets overwhelming.

Here’s an overview that might come in handy.

You can restrict:

• Data (inputs received from the world)

• Work (functioning between domains)

• Uses (outputs expressed to the world)

• Hardware (computes inputs into outputs)
  
  

A corporation extracts resources to scale AI:

• Scraping data from creatives, citizens, and the spaces we live in.

• Compelling workers to design/tinker to make new machines work.

• Raking in money by marketing uses for these ‘working’ machines.

• Sucking up basic energy and materials to produce the hardware.

This extraction harms us.

• Disconnected Person
  AI corps direct and surveil each person’s conversations online.

• Dehumanised Workplace
  AI corps exploit isolated workers to sloppily automate their jobs.

• Destabilised Society
  AI corps release untested products that get dangerously misused.

• Destroyed Environment
  AI corps mine land and leak toxins, accelerating the sixth extinction.

Communities are stepping up to restrict harmful AI, and you can support them!  

For example, you can support legal actions by creatives and privacy advocates to protect their data rights. Or encourage unions to negotiate contracts so workers aren’t forced to use AI. Or advocate for auditors having the power to block unsafe AI products.

Some other AI safety research programs

• Supervised Program for Alignment Research (SPAR)

• ML Alignment Theory Scholars Program (MATS)

• Principles of Intelligent Behavior in Biological and Social Systems (PIBBSS) 

• Mentorship for Alignment Research Students (MARS)

• London AI Safety Research Labs (LASR Labs)

Or look for upcoming events or programs here: Events & Training – AISafety.com

SPAR is probably the program that is most similar to the current version of AISC, since SPAR is also online and part-time. 

We’d also like to highlight Apart Sprints, which are weekend long, AI Safety hackathons, which you can join online from anywhere in the world (as long as you have internet).

If you don’t know where to start, talk to AI Safety Quest for some guidance.

If you want to take some time to learn more, either by yourself or with a group of friends, here are some curriculums you can use:

• AI Alignment Course by Bluedot

• AI Governance Course by Bluedot

• Alignment Research Engineer Accelerator (ARENA) 

• Agent Foundations for Superintelligence-Robust Alignment

• …and more…

AISC used to be an in-person event. We shifted to online during the pandemic. After that AISC alternated between in person and online for a time, since we found both formats valuable in different ways. We went back to only online in 2023, since the funding situation for AI safety had gotten worse, and online events are much cheaper to run. 

We currently don’t have the funding or the staff necessary for an in-person AISC. If you want to help us change this, please reach out.

However, even if AISC is currently online, there is nothing stopping you and your team from meeting up in person during the program. For example, EA Hotel offers free housing, food and co-working space for people working on important altruistic projects (e.g. AI safety). The EA Hotel staff has told us that AISC participants are very likely to be accepted as residents. You can apply to stay there, and tell them you’re an AISC participant.

When AISC started, there were no similar programs. Now there are lots, which we are happy about. But we still think there are ways AISC stands out. 

Other programs have mentors, AISC have project leads. The main difference between an project leads and a mentor is that we require our project leads to be actively involved in the project. They are not just an advisor but also a team member themselves. Another difference is that we don’t require PLs to be experienced AI safety researchers. Project leads should have some necessary experience and take full ownership for their projects, but mostly project leads applicants will be evaluated based on their project proposal and not on their CV. 

However, we also don’t think that it is necessary for AISC to be different to be valuable. It’s more important for us to do a good job than to be unique. The interest in AI safety is growing quickly, and there is clearly enough interest for all the programs we are aware of.

As of now, we do not have any funds available for stipends. In case of a stipend grant around beginning October, we would still only be able to offer stipends for participants (project leads and team members) residing in low-income countries.

Yes! 

We welcome returning participants. You’ll bring both your research experience, and your experience doing this type of team work, which will benefit your new team.

Camp-wide activities, such as the opening weekend and final presentations, will end up at inconvenient hours for you. If you want to skip these you’re excused. You can still watch back recordings of many of the sessions.

Team meetings however are much more important. You absolutely need to be able to attend the majority of your team's weekly meetings. If this is a problem depends on who else is on the team and where they live. 

It’s possible to have calls with people from two out of the three continental regions: Americas, Europe/Africa, or Asia-Pacific. But usually not from all three regions at the same time.

• If you get invited for an interview to join a team, definitely bring this question up!

• If you’re the project lead, do not simultaneously accept team members from the Americas and Europe/Africa 

Meetings are much more important when collaborating remotely.

In a general work or research environment where everyone works in the same office it’s often a good idea to eliminate meetings as much as possible. But in those environments you can easily communicate with each other all the time and you get a lot more casual interactions with people. For remote teams, sometimes the meeting may be the only involvement you have that week with the project.

We’ve noticed that when teamwork breaks down, it often starts with failing to have regular team meetings.

Yes, see tips for starting as a new team here. 

This is not easy.

If you don’t know anyone else who is thinking seriously about this problem, a first step could be to just find others who understand your concern. Not being alone is a good first step. Look for communities and events where you can find like minded people. 

We also recommend this blogpost, Mental Health and the Alignment Problem: A Compilation of Resources (updated April 2023), which contains: 

• Summaries and links to other blogposts from many people who have written about how they deal with facing potential AI doom.

• Descriptions of mental health practices, with links to more info.

• A list of therapists and coaches who will understand your AI concerns.