This is a retrospective analysis from conducting an AI alignment retreat for a week in Ooty, India. We hope this report will be useful to other organisers planning similar events. This is also aimed for those who could not make it for this event and want to know what happened. We welcome feedback on how we can improve. If you are interested in collaborating on any of these projects or want to learn more, please contact aditya or bhishma! This document is a work in progress, depending on the interest, we can coordinate with participants and get more details Objectives * Bootstrap a community to mitigate gradual disempowerment and foster social bonding * Better understand AI capabilities and threat models by interacting and building with current tools * Cultivate embodiment, practice integrity in our beliefs around AI and what progress means Key Takeaways * We had 25 applications, we selected 15 after doing video calls to confirm enthusiasm, fit and alignment on expectations. Both the organizers did independent calls to reduce bias. * Each member contributed around 35 USD each and was provided three meals per day for the seven days from Monday 23th to 29th of June. * Some participants wished to have been informed of dates and schedule with at least a month plus notice so they could clear their week and fully participate. Mid week survey indicated people found it highly useful as compared to the counterfactual * It really helped to empower participants to take ownership, the key was to inspire others by setting the tone. * We often got into meta level discussions and tools like the social timer helped keep track of time. * In the future we hope to plan collaborations with local ngos and help the disempowered near the irl location, this makes the discussion around gradual disempowerment more real * There was interest in the history of alignment, the conflict around how these words are used, what they mean and the conflict of interest around