TLDR; We got three-month funding from a generous individual funder to launch an AI Safety office in Serbia. We are giving free office space (and, if funding later permits, housing) to AI Safety researchers who are looking for a place to work from. Priority for citizens of countries like Russia and China who can work visa-free from Serbia while being close to Europe. Register interest here or ask questions at my email. We also have a promise of partial funding for our bare-bones request (budget) from an individual donor but are looking for a second individual donor in order to fulfill it (about 30k USD) - reach out to me if this may be you.

Background:

EA Serbia and AI Safety Serbia groups are small but growing (~30 people in EA Serbia, ~3 people looking to get into AIS research as a career, and ~3 to get into AIS policy). Due to Serbia’s favorable Visa policy towards Russia and China, many foreigners already live here. With lower living costs than many other international hub cities, a vibrant scene, and a favorable time zone and climate, Belgrade has a growing foreigner community.

As we have seen projects such as CEEALAR as important and impressive, we wish to replicate them in Serbia, where they can better serve people who may struggle to get UK visas. We also believe that having the capacity to quickly scale cheap housing for people coming from different countries is a good thing.

We also believe that we should start small, prototype, and then move larger. We have had a unique opportunity to get an office space that is NGO-friendly, has good vibes, and costs only ~550 Euros per month for office space that has three rooms and can fit 8-15 people (depending on how snug they decide to be) with a coffee shop downstairs where another 20 people can spend their time co-working, as the office and the downstairs coffee shop are under the same ownership. This is certainly less luxurious than many other EA/AI co-working places, but we have a high degree of customizability allowed to us, which we can use to make a good office space. If we grow enough, we can also move to a bigger venue, as our needs grow. Certainly, if we knew that more use could be found in an office in Serbia, getting something somewhat further from the center, which includes living and office spaces, would be better, but we do not wish to explore that until we have proof of concep...

David Solar

David Solar

David Solar

David Solar