Project summary

Athena is a new research mentorship program fostering diversity of ideas in AI safety research. We aim to get more women and marginalized genders into technical research and offer the support needed to thrive in this space. 

What are this project's goals and how will you achieve them?

A 2-month hybrid mentorship program for women looking to strengthen their research skills and network in technical AI safety research beginning in January/February 2024. 

This includes 1-week in-person retreat in Oxford, UK followed by a 2-month remote mentorship by established researchers in the field, with networking and weekly research talks. 

Two main goals of the program:
1. Help qualified women to feel more welcome in the field of technical AI safety research through support and community events

2. Connect mentees to researchers and provide project accountability and space for collaboration

These goals are achieved through the following specific actions:

1. Establish mentorship relationships through 1:1 weekly mentor 1 hr meetings

2. Deliver workshops and training sessions to enhance technical skills and research methodologies.

3. Setting up networking and social events to build a supportive community with Bay Area and European organizations 

4. Support specialists to debug culture and productivity issues with

5. Create a community of women to share experiences with and to create more visibility for women (hey a lot of women are in this field, this could be a place for me)

6. Scholarships for travel and lodging if participating in the in-person program, compute resources

7. Placement after program into research groups if interested for collaboration (paid or unpaid)

8. After program alumni page for continued involvement 

Program outcomes:

• Increase the number of women pursuing careers in AI alignment, which is currently a male-dominated field with a very specific culture that can be very unwelcoming. Help to shift the current culture to one that values diversity, inclusivity, and more qualified individuals.

• Provide mentees with valuable mentorship, support, and networking opportunities that can make all the difference in womens success and choice to stay in this field 

• Signal to the greater AI safety community of the importance of diversity and inclusion in AI alignment research and practice

• Diversity of perspective leads to more research activity and breadth 

How will this funding be used?

This funding will go towards allowing more participants to join the retreat (travel fees) and for people working on the project to get paid for their time.

Who is on your team and what's your track record on similar projects?

• I have been involved in operations at Atlas Fellowship in Berkeley for the last year as an Operations Manager. 

• I participated in SERI MATS as a research fellow, conducting independent AI safety research

• I participated in the Mars College Artist Residency, where I organized workshops and community building initiatives

• I monitored educational program progress through research with the group, ‘Thaki’, which aids teachers and refugee students through educational programming

• Instructor and teaching assistant for programming courses with Digital Media Academy

• Lead Intern with the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago working with community initiatives and educational programming
  
  Others working with me have worked at the Atlas Fellowship, MATS, and with planning for other AI Safety retreats.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

We were given a Lightspeed grant of a portion of the full amount that was asked, but would greatly benefit from the full amount which would allow us to bring more participants to the networking and learning retreat and to pay people that are working on this project for the last few months.