This is a quick post to officially announce that AI Safety Support is on an indefinite pause. We have been on pause for a while now, but I wanted to make it official. I might have more to say on this later but expect that if I wait till I write a longer explanation, it will not happen.
I’m calling it a pause because maybe AI Safety Support does reopen in some capacity in the future, possibly with a different person running it.
A lack of funding is a part of the decision but is not the only factor. That is to say that I’m not looking for offers of funding.
AI Safety Support Ltd, the Australian-based charity, supports several other projects and will continue to do so. None of these projects should be affected by this.
If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments here, but I may not respond to them.
It has been a wild ride these last few years. I have so much love and appreciation for everyone I have worked with.
Thank you all so much.
AI Safety Support has been for a long time a remarkably active in-the-trenches group patching the many otherwise gaping holes in the ecosystem (someone who's available to talk and help people get a basic understanding of the lie of the land from a friendly face, resources to keep people informed in ways which were otherwise neglected, support around fiscal sponsorship and coaching), especially for people trying to join the effort who don't have a close connection to the inner circles where it's less obvious that these are needed.
I'm sad to see the supporters not having been adequately supported to keep up this part of the mission, but excited by JJ's new project: Ashgro.
I'm also excited by AI Safety Quest stepping up as a distributed, scalable, grassroots version of several of the main duties of AI Safety Support, which are ever more keenly needed with the flood of people who want to help as awareness spreads.
Super helpful background info, thanks so much :)