Lawrence Chan

This is very interesting. Want to set up a call and talk about it? Ill take notes (and maybe publish those with your permission)

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Exploring novel research directions in prosaic AI alignment, Dec 2023

I really liked this when I saw it and I flagged it as something I needed to look back at. Now that I have looked into it more in depth and see Neel's endorsement (which has worked out fantastically for my grant to Joseph Bloom), as well as Evan's endorsement, I finished off the required funding. I also met Lawrence briefly and was impressed by him but this is minor.

I also think his reasoning for doing this work is great.

**Main points in favor of this grant**

Normally I'm somewhat skeptical of totally independent alignment work, but Lawrence has a solid track record and I think his project ideas sound quite exciting. I was also recommended this grant specifically by someone I trust, and encouraged Lawrence to put it up here.

**Donor's main reservations**

Independent alignment work without any mentorship doesn't have a fantastic track record in my opinion, so it's definitely possible that not much of value will come from this other than helping keep Lawrence learning and doing work (though that is still meaningful upside).

**Process for deciding amount**

I would fund the full amount here, but I'm starting to run out of money in my Manifund pot. I'd appreciate other funders stepping in to top this off.

**Conflicts of interest**

None.