Volunteer
Who
Almost any skill set can be adapted to a volunteer role. Some commonly sought-after skills include technical expertise (such as math and code), communications, project management, and general organizing.
Why this is important
Volunteering, especially in areas of field-building and movement-building, supports efforts that are important but bottlenecked by AI safety’s funding shortage—such as AISafety.com and AI Safety Quest
About 90% of volunteer work is online, and involves field-building through communication, advocacy, or software development; providing feedback on research; or establishing or organizing online groups. In-person volunteer work may entail organizing meetups, protests, or retreats.
Typically volunteers commit up to several hours a week for at least a few months. However, volunteers that accomplish one 15-minute task a week, consistently, can also be very helpful. What’s most important is that you understand how much you are able to commit upfront, and follow through with that commitment.
Options for getting started
Sign up for free 1-on-1 volunteering advice with AI Safety Quest & 80,000 Hours
Get personalized volunteering advice in a 30-minute or one hour video call. We recommend booking both!
Join the monthly AED calls
Alignment Ecosystem Development (AED) is a nonprofit organization and community of volunteers supporting online AI safety field-building projects like AISafety.com and AI Safety Quest. You can join an existing project or pitch your own to recruit help.
Join one of our projects seeking volunteer help
Browse our list of online AI safety field-building projects and email the contact person expressing your interest
Mateusz Bagiński
I have some software engineering skills, and wanted to contribute towards reducing AI existential risk, so I joined the AISafety.info team in September 2022. Over the next year, I put in several volunteering hours a week, when I had time. I worked on various software tasks that improved AISafety.info, like optimizing the AI Safety Chatbot and migrating our entire article database into Google Docs.