Student and co-director of the AI Safety Initiative at Georgia Tech. Interested in technical safety/alignment research and general projects that make AI go better. More about me here.
Thanks again Esben for collaborating with us! Can confidently say that the above is super valuable advice for any AI safety hackathon organizers, they're consistent with our experiences.
In the context of a college campus hackathon, I'd especially stress focus on preparing starter materials and making submission requirements clear early on!
More on giving undergrads their first research experience. Yes, giving first research experience is high impact, but we want to reserve these opportunities to the best people. Often, this first research experience is most fruitful when they work with a highly competent team. We are turning focus to assemble such teams and find fits for the most value aligned undergrads.
We always find it hard to form pipelines because individuals are just so different! I don't even feel comfortable using 'undergrad' as a label if I'm honest...