EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

“It looks like there are some good funding opportunities in AI safety right now” by Benjamin_Todd

Dec 22, 2024

Benjamin Todd, a recommender in the SFF grant round, dives into the dynamic funding landscape for AI safety. He discusses the rapid growth of the AI safety community post-ChatGPT and highlights the challenges in funding that haven't quite kept up. Todd reveals recent trends, notably that Good Ventures has changed its funding priorities, leaving gaps in support for various groups. He suggests promising philanthropic investment opportunities and emphasizes careful research for potential donors. His insights are a must-listen for anyone interested in making an impact in AI safety.

08:34

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Benjamin Todd

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Quick takeaways

The AI safety sector currently offers unique funding opportunities due to shifts in philanthropic activity creating significant financing gaps for many organizations.

Smaller donors can enhance the effectiveness of AI safety initiatives by diversifying funding sources and supporting promising organizations like SecureBio and CLTR.

Deep dives

Current Funding Landscape in AI Safety

The AI safety sector is currently experiencing a unique funding landscape that presents numerous opportunities for donors. Recent shifts in philanthropic activity have created gaps in financing for many organizations, with only about 25% of available capital being accessed by key players. Furthermore, the recent SFF grant round showed that organizations faced a significantly higher funding bar, which opened avenues for new donors to step in and fill these shortages. By diversifying funding sources, smaller donors can play a crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness of AI safety initiatives, particularly given the centralization of funding among a few major foundations.

Exploring the Opportunities and Gaps in AI Safety Funding

7min

Exploring Philanthropic Opportunities in AI Safety

2min

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The AI safety community has grown rapidly since the ChatGPT wake-up call, but available funding doesn’t seem to have kept pace.

However, there's a more recent dynamic that's created even better funding opportunities, which I witnessed as a recommender in the most recent SFF grant round.[1]

Most philanthropic (vs. government or industry) AI safety funding (>50%) comes from one source: Good Ventures. But they’ve recently stopped funding several categories of work (my own categories, not theirs):

Many Republican-leaning think tanks, such as the Foundation for American Innovation.
“Post-alignment” causes such as digital sentience or regulation of explosive growth.
The rationality community, including LessWrong, Lightcone, SPARC, CFAR, MIRI.
High school outreach, such as Non-trivial.

In addition, they are currently not funding (or not fully funding):