Announcing FAR Labs, an AI safety coworking space

post by bgold · 2023-09-29T16:52:37.753Z · LW · GW · 0 comments

FAR Labs is a coworking hub in downtown Berkeley for organizations and individuals working on AI safety and related issues. Since opening the space in March 2023, we have grown to host approximately 30 members. Our members are primarily drawn from four anchor organizations, but we also host a number of independent researchers and research teams.

Now that our initial setup is complete, we are pleased to announce an open call for applications from individuals or organizations.

Our initial aims for FAR Labs:

• First and foremost it should be a place to do great work. Our members are working on challenging problems, and we want to improve their effectiveness, reduce distractions, and provide a professional environment for them to work in. That includes providing a variety of workspaces (private offices, dedicated desks and hot-desks, general areas), catering, and other office amenities such as a gym.
• A warm, intellectually generative culture. Having interesting and fun conversations is one of the best parts of working in a shared environment, and championing a culture that enables those interactions is incredibly important to us.
• Supporting collaborations between members, other alignment organizations, and outside collaborators (e.g. academics, or industry researchers). While membership is tied to actively working on AI safety (technical or governance) or related areas (e.g. field building, advocacy, fundraising), we also want to make a space that’s welcoming to many viewpoints, which we expect to benefit both members and visitors.

FAR AI’s broader mission is to support research and initiatives that promote trustworthy and safe AI systems. FAR Labs is an investment in operations and coordination. By creating research environments and good operational scaffolding, we can accelerate safety research and x-risk reduction across projects and orgs.

For the past six months that’s looked like setting up the space and getting the basics in place (office, food, equipment). Moving into 2024 the Labs team will begin offering programs for members – as well as others in the AI safety ecosystem – for developing relevant skills for research and operational excellence. We’re particularly excited about identifying best practices and providing training to help members in building and scaling high performing teams.

FAR Labs runs at cost/a slight loss^[1]; we’re aiming for a fully member supported office and community space.

We are opening for new membership applications. Currently we hope to onboard one to three alignment oriented organizations, and perhaps a handful of independent members^[2], aiming for a total membership of 40-50 people. If you’re interested in working from FAR Labs, or would like to learn more, please reach out.

 

1. ^{^}

    Programs, external visitors, and workshops will be grant funded, while our ongoing day to day office costs are covered by member dues.

2. ^{^}

   While we host several independent researchers we do prioritize organizations.

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