My hope is that the upcoming deluge of publications will answer this objection, but for the moment, I am unclear as to the justification for the level of resources being given to SIAI researchers.
Additionally, I alone have a dozen papers in development, for which I am directing every step of research and writing, and will write the final draft, but am collaborating with remote researchers so as to put in only 5%-20% of the total hours required myself.
This level of freedom is the dream of every researcher on the planet. Yet, it’s unclear why these resources should be devoted to your projects. While I strongly believe that the current academic system is broken, you are asking for a level of support granted to top researchers prior to have made any original breakthroughs yourself.
If you can convince people to give you that money, wonderful. But until you have made at least some serious advancement to demonstrate your case, donating seems like an act of faith.
It’s impressive that you all have found a way to hack the system and get paid to develop yourselves as researchers outside of the academic system and I will be delighted to see that development bear fruit over the coming years. But, at present, I don’t see evidence that the work being done justifies or requires that support.
Given the several year lag between funding increases and the listed improvements, it appears that this was less a result of a prepared plan and more a process of underutilized resources attracting a mix of parasites (the theft) and talent (hopefully the more recent staff additions).
Which goes towards a critical question in terms of future funding: is SIAI primarily constrained in its mission by resources or competence?
Of course, the related question is: what is SIAI’s mission? Someone donating primarily for AGI research might not count recent efforts (LW, rationality camps, etc) as improvements.
What should a potential donor expect from money invested into this organization going forward? Internally, what are your metrics for evaluation?
Edited to add: I think that the spin-off of the rationality efforts is a good step towards answering these questions.