Also: An explicit part of SERI MATS’ mission is to put alumni in orgs like Redwood and Anthropic AFAICT. (To the extent your post does this,) it’s plausibly a mistake to treat SERI MATS like an independent alignment research incubator.
MATS aims to find and accelerate alignment research talent, including:
Developing scholar research ability through curriculum elements focused on breadth, depth, and originality (the “T-model of research”);
Assisting scholars in producing impactful research through research mentorship, a community of collaborative peers, dedicated 1-1 support, and educational seminars;
Aiding the creation of impactful new alignment organizations (e.g., Jessica Rumbelow’s Leap Labs and Marius Hobbhahn’s Apollo Research);
Preparing scholars for impactful alignment research roles in existing organizations.
Not all alumni will end up in existing alignment research organizations immediately; some return to academia, pursue independent research, or potentially skill-up in industry (to eventually aid alignment research efforts). We generally aim to find talent with existing research ability and empower it to work on alignment, not necessarily through existing initiatives (though we certainly endorse many).
Yes, admittedly, there is much less strain on being very good at philosophy of science if you are going to work within a team with a clear agenda, particularly within AGI lab where the research agendas tend to be much more empirical than in “academic” orgs like MIRI or ARC. And thinking about research strategy is not the job of non-leading researchers at these orgs either, whereas independent researcher or researchers at more boutique labs have to think about their strategies by themselves. Founders of new orgs and labs have to think about their strategies very hard, too.
But preparing employees for OpenAI, Antrhopic, or DeepMind is clearly not the singular focus of SERI MATS.
Also: An explicit part of SERI MATS’ mission is to put alumni in orgs like Redwood and Anthropic AFAICT. (To the extent your post does this,) it’s plausibly a mistake to treat SERI MATS like an independent alignment research incubator.
MATS aims to find and accelerate alignment research talent, including:
Developing scholar research ability through curriculum elements focused on breadth, depth, and originality (the “T-model of research”);
Assisting scholars in producing impactful research through research mentorship, a community of collaborative peers, dedicated 1-1 support, and educational seminars;
Aiding the creation of impactful new alignment organizations (e.g., Jessica Rumbelow’s Leap Labs and Marius Hobbhahn’s Apollo Research);
Preparing scholars for impactful alignment research roles in existing organizations.
Not all alumni will end up in existing alignment research organizations immediately; some return to academia, pursue independent research, or potentially skill-up in industry (to eventually aid alignment research efforts). We generally aim to find talent with existing research ability and empower it to work on alignment, not necessarily through existing initiatives (though we certainly endorse many).
Yes, admittedly, there is much less strain on being very good at philosophy of science if you are going to work within a team with a clear agenda, particularly within AGI lab where the research agendas tend to be much more empirical than in “academic” orgs like MIRI or ARC. And thinking about research strategy is not the job of non-leading researchers at these orgs either, whereas independent researcher or researchers at more boutique labs have to think about their strategies by themselves. Founders of new orgs and labs have to think about their strategies very hard, too.
But preparing employees for OpenAI, Antrhopic, or DeepMind is clearly not the singular focus of SERI MATS.