A lot of this is fairly relatable. Thanks for writing it.
I just received my BSc in CS with Math minor on Nov 12th. As a Canadian living in Canada I do feel some worry that my time could have been better spent just focusing directly on AIA, however this is a less socially legible decision to family who do not (or at least did not, when I started my degree) believe in the immediate danger of AI.
I do think a lot of the math was valuable, much less of the CS content seemed valuable, although I found the CS content a great deal easier making it faster to finish my degree.
I also took electives I found fun, such as an intro to Japanese, because since I have unknown, possibly very short timelines and pretty high p(doom), I’m trying to split my time between contributing to the AIA effort and enjoying what time I have left.
I engaged with the AI club at my university, hoping to foster AIA focus. In retrospect, I think this was mostly a mistake and my efforts would have been better spent promoting PauseAI, as I began to do in my final year, or merely engaging with classes and AIA topics without other social engagement. Maybe if I was more naturally social or if I had more extra time to focus on campaigning it would have been more successful, but it seemed like most people in the AI club already had their minds made up about AI and saw ML as an important career skill, not a threat to humanity.
Now that I’m finished I’m living off of some savings for a time and trying to figure out what to do next and how to engage meaningfully with AIA. I have been applying to fellowships and am also trying to publish a self study journal to keep myself focused working on understanding more about AIA and further developing my research and writing skills.
Any advice you might have for me would be appreciated.
A lot of this is fairly relatable. Thanks for writing it.
I just received my BSc in CS with Math minor on Nov 12th. As a Canadian living in Canada I do feel some worry that my time could have been better spent just focusing directly on AIA, however this is a less socially legible decision to family who do not (or at least did not, when I started my degree) believe in the immediate danger of AI.
I do think a lot of the math was valuable, much less of the CS content seemed valuable, although I found the CS content a great deal easier making it faster to finish my degree.
I also took electives I found fun, such as an intro to Japanese, because since I have unknown, possibly very short timelines and pretty high p(doom), I’m trying to split my time between contributing to the AIA effort and enjoying what time I have left.
I engaged with the AI club at my university, hoping to foster AIA focus. In retrospect, I think this was mostly a mistake and my efforts would have been better spent promoting PauseAI, as I began to do in my final year, or merely engaging with classes and AIA topics without other social engagement. Maybe if I was more naturally social or if I had more extra time to focus on campaigning it would have been more successful, but it seemed like most people in the AI club already had their minds made up about AI and saw ML as an important career skill, not a threat to humanity.
Now that I’m finished I’m living off of some savings for a time and trying to figure out what to do next and how to engage meaningfully with AIA. I have been applying to fellowships and am also trying to publish a self study journal to keep myself focused working on understanding more about AIA and further developing my research and writing skills.
Any advice you might have for me would be appreciated.