Project summary

I'm planning to present technical research in AI safety, alignment, and control at venues in Singapore and Abu Dhabi next month. I only need funding to cover travel related costs.

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

• Singapore:

  • I will be attending https://iclr.cc/. I have an accepted poster at the conference (openreview), which is the output of my independent research with collaborators at Georgia Tech.

  • Two out of the three workshops we are presenting at provide travel grants to authors, however this is conditional on available budget and we have yet to receive a decision on our application.

  • I will arrive a few days before the conference and work out of https://www.aisafety.sg/.

• Abu Dhabi:

  • I will be attending https://govaisummitmea.com/. I am coauthor on a paper undergoing blinded reviews, to be published with the Mohammad Bin Rashid School of Government.

  • I am from the UAE and did an AI Security research internship at the Dubai Electronic Security Center in 2020, before being recruited by a unicorn startup and then Microsoft Security. In the past, I also lead a team which won a $35000 prize in a hackathon for AI + Cybersecurity.

  • I'll return to Canada after making personal visits to close friends and family in the Emirates.

How will this funding be used?

• Flying from Toronto to Singapore costs $900 (after a 10% discount voucher thanks to a friend that works at Air Canada).

• I will be staying in Singapore for 6 nights from April 23 to April 29. The accommodation cost is $1,000.

• The cost of a ticket from Singapore to Dubai is $500.

• I have put a budget of $200 for local travel costs (ubering to and from the airport, to and from the conference) and another $200 as miscellaneous.

• My return trip to Canada will be funded by an accepted paper at CVPR in Nashville.

The total expenses come to $2800.

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

I am only seeking funding for travel costs, not research related costs, and I am traveling alone.

• Coauthors on the ICLR paper are Yixiong Hao, Stepan Shabalin, and Ayush Panda.

• Coauthors on the GovAI Summit paper are Cyrus Hodes, Fadi Salem, and Renan Araujo.

I have been to NeurIPs 2024. More information is available on my website: https://abdur-raheem.com/

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

I would not be able to attend in person, which would impact my ability to get detailed feedback from other researchers and produce high quality safety research.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

I have not raised money in the last 12 months.