Project summary

Translating BlueDot Impact's AI Alignment curriculum into Brazilian Portuguese.

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

This project's high-level goal is adding to the scarce amount of high-quality, up-to-date resources available to Brazilian people who are interested in AI safety as a career path, or might get interested in it if exposed to the matter.

As to the more implementational side of it, the EA community in Brazil intends to use the material in (1) university study groups and (2) online courses. Last semester I (Luan Marques) translated the BlueDot Impact's Governance curriculum, with a collaborator who runs the Brazilian 80.000 Horas website, Fernando Moreno, and it was used by a UGAP-supported study group at the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto. First, we intend to launch an online governance course modeled on BlueDot's. Later, with the AI alignment translation in hand, we intend to launch an AI alignment online course.

Of course, we also intend to make the AI alignment translation available to university study groups, and the other one, at Getúlio Vargas Foundation in Rio, is worth mentioning here. In Rio, they opted for the alignment course in English anyway, helped by machine translation. So that shows some interest. But the language barrier is still a problem. For example, out of the 12 people that regularly participate in their meetings, 4 say their understanding would improve by 50% with translated material, and 4 by 10%.

The translation will be done by machine translation post-editing, by myself. I must say that I've gotten permission to translate from BlueDot Impact, as well as at least one author of almost every piece of content in the curriculum: 57 out of 64 answered me positively [or were appropriately licensed] while only 8 haven't answered me yet. Also, we intend to make the curriculum available for free on the 80000horas.com.br website, just like the Governance curriculum is: https://80000horas.com.br/fundamentos-de-seguranca-de-ia/governanca-da-ia-um-curso-introdutorio/

How will this funding be used?

This funding will be used as income for the translator's (Luan Marques) work, which is expected to take 2-3 months.

Here's the breakdown: The curriculum’s total word-count is around 176,920. Language professionals’ website ProZ shows a rate for EN-PT translations varying from 0.09 USD (standard) to 0.07 USD (minimum) per word. I see many experienced Brazilians charging a typical rate of 0.06 USD, so let’s put that as the minimum, instead. Assuming machine translation post-editing as 70% of that, it ranges from 0.06 USD to 0.04 USD per word. That totals 10.615 USD to 7.076 USD.

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

I'm involved in EA Brazil community, and collaborate with its main actors, Fernando Moreno (head at the 80.000 Horas website: fernando.olivi@gmail.com), Leo Arruda (Head of community at the Condor Initiative: leo@condorinitiative.org) and Juana Martinez (Community Builder: juanamart030@gmail.com).

I have translated a fair amount of EA-realated content. The utilitarianism.net website (unfortunately, not out yet), co-authored by Richard Chappell, Darius Meissner, and William MacAskill. Parts of the Precipice, and of the EA handbook. And as said above, I’ve mostly translated the whole of BlueDot’s governance curriculum.

As to giving courses, the EA Brazil community has some experience, for example, giving an EA Intro course on an ongoing basis, run by the Condor Initiative.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails? (premortem)

I said above, about the study group in Rio, that “out of the 12 people that regularly participate in their meetings, 4 say their understanding would improve by 50% with translated material, and 4 by 10%.” You might conclude that, at least for young Brazilians at undergraduate age, who must have an understanding of English better than the vast majority of Brazil, a supplementation is still necessary, at least for content that is so technically demanding as this.

But thinking about an online course, that fact might not generalize to the rest of the population in Brazil that is interested in these matters, so that a translation might not have much of an impact.

Also, much of the curriculum might be updated too regularly, so that this effort might be superfluous. 

What other funding are you or your project getting?

I've applied for EA Funds: Long-Term Future Fund, and got turned down (and they suggested I apply here!). But I'm still waiting for their response for another fund, the Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund.