2 years ago I had no credentials, not even an undergrad degree. Got spooked by GPT-3 and laser-focused on it, but without preconceptions about where I’d end up. Played with GPT-3 on AI Dungeon, then built an interface to interact with higher bandwidth. This made me (Pareto) best in the world at a something in less than 6 months, because the opportunity to upskill did not exist 6 months ago. Published some papers and blog posts that were easy to churn out because they were just samples of some of the many many thoughts about GPT that now filled my mind. Joined EleutherAI and started contributing, mostly conceptually, because I didn’t have deep ML experience. Responded to an ad by Latitude (the company that makes AI Dungeon) for the position of “GPT-3 hacker”. Worked there for a few months as an ML engineer, then was one of the founding employees of Conjecture (I got to know the founders through EleutherAI). Now I am Involved.
The field of AI is moving so quickly that it’s easy to become Pareto best in the world if you depart from the mainline of what everyone else is doing. Apparently you are smart and creative; if you’re also truly “passionate” about AI, maybe you have the curiosity and drive to spot the unexploited opportunities and niches. The efficient market is a myth, except inside the Overton window; I would recommend not to try to compete there. So the strategy I’m advocating is most similar to your option (2). But I’d suggest following your curiosity and tinkering to improve your map of where the truly fertile opportunities lie, instead of doing a side project for the sake of having a side project—the latter is the road to mediocrity.
Also, find out where the interesting people who are defining the cutting edge are hanging out and learn from them. You might be surprised that you soon have a lot to teach them as well, if you’ve been exploring the very high dimensional frontier independently.
I cannot promise this is the best advice for you, but it is the advice I would give someone similar to myself.
2 years ago I had no credentials, not even an undergrad degree. Got spooked by GPT-3 and laser-focused on it, but without preconceptions about where I’d end up. Played with GPT-3 on AI Dungeon, then built an interface to interact with higher bandwidth. This made me (Pareto) best in the world at a something in less than 6 months, because the opportunity to upskill did not exist 6 months ago. Published some papers and blog posts that were easy to churn out because they were just samples of some of the many many thoughts about GPT that now filled my mind. Joined EleutherAI and started contributing, mostly conceptually, because I didn’t have deep ML experience. Responded to an ad by Latitude (the company that makes AI Dungeon) for the position of “GPT-3 hacker”. Worked there for a few months as an ML engineer, then was one of the founding employees of Conjecture (I got to know the founders through EleutherAI). Now I am Involved.
The field of AI is moving so quickly that it’s easy to become Pareto best in the world if you depart from the mainline of what everyone else is doing. Apparently you are smart and creative; if you’re also truly “passionate” about AI, maybe you have the curiosity and drive to spot the unexploited opportunities and niches. The efficient market is a myth, except inside the Overton window; I would recommend not to try to compete there. So the strategy I’m advocating is most similar to your option (2). But I’d suggest following your curiosity and tinkering to improve your map of where the truly fertile opportunities lie, instead of doing a side project for the sake of having a side project—the latter is the road to mediocrity.
Also, find out where the interesting people who are defining the cutting edge are hanging out and learn from them. You might be surprised that you soon have a lot to teach them as well, if you’ve been exploring the very high dimensional frontier independently.
I cannot promise this is the best advice for you, but it is the advice I would give someone similar to myself.