@Arkose , Sounds like a great way to go about! Though I assume the initial filtering needs to be at least moderately strong since such individually tailored outreach can be time-consuming (but a good investment).

@Arkose, Super interesting, thank you.
If it's not a trade secret: What is your pitch to those who are not self-selected or referred? (E.g a pitch about applying their skills to make a positive impact in the world)

I don't know this target group very well but I assume they tend to already have a stable job so "career coaching" would not necessarily appeal to them. However, I also know that many mid-career professionals experience some existential crisis if they feel that their work is not making a positive impact in the world.

I also have another question: Do you happen to have any data on the demographics of the people you have successfully reached and supported? I would be mainly interested if you were able to tap into global talent (that is, talent outside of main AIS hubs, such as the UK, US, Europe) because that relates to my own work at Condor Initiative :)

Thanks a lot for the write-up!
Skimming through this post + your website, the following thing was not completely clear to me:

Do you mainly target ML experts who are already interested in pursuing AIS careers (and thus you accelerate their progress) or do you also do outreach to ML experts who have not considered it as a career (either due to lack of knowledge or due to lack of initial interest)?

If it's the latter, how do you go about nudging people towards AIS?

If it's the former, how do you identify ML experts who know about AIS but need support to transition (do you e.g.advertise yourself at ML conferences)?

So exciting, @gleech ! Is it correct that the updated report is not out yet? I tried clicking through the links here + searched on LW, but couldn't find it. (Sorry if I'm blind to the obvious!)

Description of subprojects and results, including major changes from the original proposal

Condor Camp South Africa - 24 Participants (Nov 2024)

• Fellowship pipeline: 33% applied to entry-level positions (Impact Academy, Anthropic fellowship)

  • All passed initial screening

  • 8% advanced to later stages

• Community building: 25% developing AI Safety infrastructure

  • Founded first university AI Safety groups: Witwatersrand (4 participants), Stellenbosch (2 participants)

• Professional impact: 8% engaged in UK AISI evaluations through AIS Capetown
  
  
  Key results from comparing pre and post-camp surveys:
  - 12% increase in AIS-related career goals
  -Perceived barriers to enter the field of AIS: There’s a 28% decrease in knowledge acquisition concerns, dropping from 15 participants (60%) at the start of Condor Camp to 8 participants (32%) by the end of the program. The decline in networking concerns (from 11 to 9 participants, -8%) and career path uncertainty (from 11 to 8 participants, -12%) suggests a reduction in barriers related to gaining connections and clarity in career paths. However, funding concerns saw a significant increase of 20%, rising from 5 participants (20%) to 10 participants (40%).
  
  
  Camp ratings:
  -Overall rating of 4.71 out of 5.
  -83.33% would recommend participating in Condor Camp to friends.
  -Participants also compared Condor Camp favorably with other similar experiences for highly talented students, giving it an average score of 4.06 out of 5, although seven participants (38.89%) gave it a rating of 3 out of 5.
  -Participants found the program activities and opportunities helpful and useful (4.63 out of 5), as well as well-prepared and organized (4.59 out of 5).
  
  Changes compared to the original plans:
  - The costs ended up significantly lower
  - The team setup changed: Carolina left the organisation to pursue other projects and we therefore had a stronger collaboration with our South African collaborators, involving them more in the operations-related responsibilities.
  

Spending breakdown

Total expenditure$61,004.38

Venue& catering: $37,853

Travel & transport: $10,955

Merch & photographer:$1300

Local contractors & speakers: $10,900

Accommodation & food for staff pre & post-camp: $2600

Hardware rental: $472

Misc
(Visa agents, SIM cards, anti-harassment training etc): $936.31

Post-camp survey assessment: Quantitative: $1,000.00
Qual$420.00