After graduating, why would you need to be based in Kagoshima?
I need to be based in Kagoshima for pretty strong personal reasons. Sorry for not providing details. If you really need them, I can tell you more via PM.
Ah, you write »after graduating«? Sorry for not providing that detail: research students in Japan are not working on a master’s or PhD. They’re just hanging around studying or doing research and hopefully learn something during that time.
Have you taken a look at the content on MIRI’s to practice AI safety research?
Yes, I’ve read all of the agenda papers and some more.
Have you considered applying to visit AI safety researchers at MIRI or FHI? That would help you to figure out where your interests and theirs overlap, and to consider how you might contribute.
I applied for the MIRI Summer Fellows Programme, which I didn’t get into by a small margin, and CFAR’s Workshop on AI Safety Strategy, which I also didn’t get into. They told me they might put me in the next one. That would definitely help me with my questions, but I thought it’s better to start early, so I asked here.
If you’re not eligible to visit for some reason, that might imply that you’re further from being useful than you thought.
I am at the very beginning of learning ML and AI and therefore kind of far from being useful. I know this. But I’m quite good at maths and computer science and a range of other things, so I thought contributing to AI safety research shouldn’t be too far to go. It will just take time. (Just as a master’s programme would take time, for example.) The hard part is to get hold of money to sustain myself during that time.
I might be useful for other things than research directly, such as support software development, teaching, writing, outreach, organizing. I haven’t done much teaching, outreach and organization, but I would be interested to try more.
I don’t really know of any ai researchers in our extended network out of some dozens who’ve managed to be taken very seriously without being colocated with other top researchers, so without knowing more, it still seems moderately likely to me that the best plan involves doing something like earning while practising math, or studying a PhD, with the intent to move in 2-3 years, depending on when you can’t move until.
Otherwise, it seems like you’re doing the right things, but until you put out some papers or something, I think I’d sooner direct funding to projects among the FLI grantees. I’d note that most of the credible LW/EA researchers are doing PhDs and postdocs or taking on AI safety research roles in industry, and recieve funds through those avenues and it seems to me like those would also be the next steps for you in your career.
If you had a very new idea that you had an extraordinary comparative advantage at exploring, then it’s not concievable that you could be among the most eligible GCR-reduction researchers for funding but you’d have to say a lot more.
Thank you!
I need to be based in Kagoshima for pretty strong personal reasons. Sorry for not providing details. If you really need them, I can tell you more via PM.
Ah, you write »after graduating«? Sorry for not providing that detail: research students in Japan are not working on a master’s or PhD. They’re just hanging around studying or doing research and hopefully learn something during that time.
Yes, I’ve read all of the agenda papers and some more.
I applied for the MIRI Summer Fellows Programme, which I didn’t get into by a small margin, and CFAR’s Workshop on AI Safety Strategy, which I also didn’t get into. They told me they might put me in the next one. That would definitely help me with my questions, but I thought it’s better to start early, so I asked here.
I am at the very beginning of learning ML and AI and therefore kind of far from being useful. I know this. But I’m quite good at maths and computer science and a range of other things, so I thought contributing to AI safety research shouldn’t be too far to go. It will just take time. (Just as a master’s programme would take time, for example.) The hard part is to get hold of money to sustain myself during that time.
I might be useful for other things than research directly, such as support software development, teaching, writing, outreach, organizing. I haven’t done much teaching, outreach and organization, but I would be interested to try more.
I don’t really know of any ai researchers in our extended network out of some dozens who’ve managed to be taken very seriously without being colocated with other top researchers, so without knowing more, it still seems moderately likely to me that the best plan involves doing something like earning while practising math, or studying a PhD, with the intent to move in 2-3 years, depending on when you can’t move until.
Otherwise, it seems like you’re doing the right things, but until you put out some papers or something, I think I’d sooner direct funding to projects among the FLI grantees. I’d note that most of the credible LW/EA researchers are doing PhDs and postdocs or taking on AI safety research roles in industry, and recieve funds through those avenues and it seems to me like those would also be the next steps for you in your career.
If you had a very new idea that you had an extraordinary comparative advantage at exploring, then it’s not concievable that you could be among the most eligible GCR-reduction researchers for funding but you’d have to say a lot more.