Facilitators lead 10-12 participants in structured discussions (following a provided template) on assigned readings. Facilitating is different from teaching: rather than convey your own knowledge, the goal is to help participants articulate their thoughts via a collaborative & active learning process.
Mentors supervise 1-4 participants during the project phase of the course, during which they create an original contribution to the field of AI & animal protection. This can be anything from research articles, policy memos/frameworks, surveys, technical demos, or more,
You can apply to be both a facilitator & a mentor.
✅Qualifications: Facilitating or mentoring is a great opportunity to develop your leadership & teaching skills, as well as to gain experience mediating & communicating across individuals of different backgrounds. Ideal candidates have significant interest or experience in AI & animal advocacy– but just as important is previous experience either facilitating, teaching, &/or mentoring.
Facilitators: Previous facilitation experience (e.g. with BlueDot Impact, EA Fellowships, or other courses) as well as teaching experience is a strong plus.
Mentors: We’re looking for more senior professionals across research, industry, policy, & related sectors. Mentoring is a chance to share your experience with the next generation of changemakers & maximise the success & impact of their projects & careers.
The fellowship will be for 12 weeks:
The immersion block (weeks 1–6) introduces participants to current and emerging AI applications with implications for animals, such as precision livestock farming, decoding animal communication, and AI-powered advocacy. The final session explores impactful career pathways at the AI/animals frontier.
The specialisation block (weeks 7–8) gives you the chance to go deeper in one of three tracks:
Builder — specialised classes on code and no-code tools, with practical implementations
Researcher — writing, policy design, and strategies for influence
Career-Developer — pathways for working with governments, NGOs, and industry actors
(Fellows will choose one track as their focus but may also audit classes across the other tracks. The facilitator might choose to lead one specific track.)
If you are unsure about your fit, we encourage you to apply anyway– just as our learners come from a variety of diverse backgrounds, so should our facilitators & mentors.
📆 Time frame & commitment
Facilitators: ~25 hours total per cohort from November to February (training, icebreaker, weekly prep/sessions)
Mentors: >10 hours total from January to February (weekly sessions + office hours)
Experienced facilitators/mentors may take on more than 1 cohort/several mentees. If you are unsure & would first like to participate in the Futurekind Fellowship as a learner, then we encourage you to apply by November 1.
TLDR: Take the population ethics quiz here: https://mdickens.me/pop-ethics/
Population ethics is an oft-overlooked subfield within ethics. Many people hold views that they don't realize contradict each other, or that have strange implications that they wouldn't endorse if they thought about it more.
Not just that—population ethics is a BIG DEAL. A lot of ethical decisions hinge on how you think about changes in future populations....
I’ve been feeling pretty shaken since the METR report about the Hugging Face incident came out last week. Over the weekend, I wrote up some thoughts on how lonely the AI situation sometimes feels to me. It’s more personal than what I’d usually share publicly, but I thought I’d post it here in case it resonates with anyone else.
I’m very grateful to the man...
Headline finding: I audited 17 AI Safety Talent programmes. Zero of 17 have published any comparison group, rejected-applicant follow-up, matched control or randomisation. Not one. Every programme that mentions a counterfactual does it by asking participants to self-report.
Background
At least $70 million...
