What it's like to be an AI safety grantmaker (and why we need more of them)
There are roughly 30 to 60 people working full-time on AI safety grantmaking, collectively directing hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Does that seem high or low to you?
Here are the key points I want you to take away from this post: There are maybe 30 to 60 people in the world doing AI safety grantmaking, collectively directing hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Soon, there will be >$1B being directed per year, and potentially multiple billions. AI safety grantmaking orgs like CG have a strong track record of counterfactually seeding impactful organizations and careers. Grantmaking involves a lot more than evaluating a stack of inbound proposals. You also proactively generate new grants (e.g., headhunting founders, designing new funding programs),…
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