To get somewhat more concrete, the Frontier Safety Framework report already proposes a (somewhat vague) operationalization for ML R&D evals, which (vagueness-permitting) seems straightforward to translate into an operationalization for automated AI safety R&D evals:
Machine Learning R&D level 1: Could significantly accelerate AI research at a cutting-edge lab if deployed widely, e.g.improving the pace of algorithmic progress by 3X, or comparably accelerate other AI research groups.
Machine Learning R&D level 2: Could fully automate the AI R&D pipeline at a fraction of human labor costs, potentially enabling hyperbolic growth in AI capabilities.
To get somewhat more concrete, the Frontier Safety Framework report already proposes a (somewhat vague) operationalization for ML R&D evals, which (vagueness-permitting) seems straightforward to translate into an operationalization for automated AI safety R&D evals: