Hi all,

I’m a PhD student in organizational psychology at Boston College, and have been involved in EA for a couple years. For my dissertation, I’m studying AI safety researchers and how they find meaning and motivation in their work, especially in the face of various potential obstacles they may face (e.g., work-life balance, doomerism, lack of feedback, etc.). I hope to develop insights that will be valuable to the AI safety community and other people who work to mitigate x-risk. One outcome of my research will be a post on this forum that provides a rich description of some of the challenges AI safety researchers face in their work and strategies they use to overcome them.

As part of my research, I'm conducting interviews with current and former AI safety researchers. Interviews take place via Zoom, last an average of 45-60 minutes, and are completely confidential/anonymous.

I could use your help in two ways:

1. Are there any interesting dynamics related to this research topic that I should explore that I might not already be aware of? I’m trying to make this dissertation maximally helpful to the AI safety community, so your feedback on how I should focus my research would be helpful, especially at this early stage of the study.
2. I’m seeking interview participants, and would appreciate a signal boost. If you or someone you know works, or has worked, in AI safety and might be willing to participate in an interview, please reach out to me by email at gardnejv@bc.edu or using this form.