Hanging out my shingle

1 The most urgent thing

I need to scope what I mean by impact. For these purposes, it’s AI safety. I think we’re mishandling every aspect of the transition to an AI-driven society. Many parts of this transition will likely go awry unless we invest in proper mitigations, and right now we’re not doing great.

My risk model here is broad.

• There’s a risk of perpetuating or worsening inequality across society.
• We stand a real chance of losing the delicate human understanding that underpins liberal society and democracy.
• There’s also the danger of total epistemic collapse, where we lose the ability to understand the world and make good decisions about it, drowning in a sea of AI slop.
• Moreover, we face psychological risks of becoming alienated as machine intelligences infiltrate every aspect of our lives.
• We risk getting shot by autonomous weaponized drones, or AI-engineered bioweapons, etc., as geopolitical tensions rise.
• And there’s the looming threat of autonomous intelligent algorithms spiralling out of control and causing untold harm to humanity for their own reasons.

We need to address all these issues, and quickly. The time to work on improving this situation is not after a disaster strikes, but before it does.

There are many other massive problems in society, but this is the one that will get us first, because software moves so damn fast. We need to get it solved in order to work on the others.

2 What I am up for

I could use ideas, collaborations, roles, co-founders, mentorship. New contacts. Old contacts who didn’t know I was looking. I want help to work out what I should do next to make a difference on that problem. Maybe we should work together?

I’m open for business, up for ideas, and ready to start things. I’m ready to join your project. I’m ready to found a new project. I’m looking for collaborators, co-founders, and employers. Solve an important scientific problem? Persuade an important institution to change its ways? Build a new institution?

The things I pursue should be impactful. Everything’s on the table right now. I’d work in your company, work for the government, or found a new venture. The key point here is that I’m prepared to trade prestige, esteem, and seniority for a chance to make tangible improvements.

Get in touch.

If you’re about to suggest some random non-impactful role, thank you kindly! But save us both the time. I don’t need help with a random non-impactful job right now; I can find those.

3 What I’m useful for

• Gemini summary of me
• ChatGPT summary of me

AI Safety is something I am very qualified to help with, as a machine learning expert with a broad view of the landscape and much experience at the coalface. I’m a voraciously curious, smart guy who’s good at hard intellectual work, especially mathematical work. I’m highly motivated by difficult problems and interesting intellectual challenges. I’m driven by working with people towards shared goals.

As my current role (research scientist in a major ICT research lab) hopefully indicates, I’m a skilled artificial intelligence and machine learning researcher.² I understand the mathematics of deep learning, linear algebra, probability theory, and physics modelling, and I’m one of those people who invent the algorithms that make the AI world progress. I publish papers in top-tier machine learning conferences, pushing forward the state of the art in these areas. In the world of machine learning research, my particular skill is breadth; I am the person people come to when they need the right tool for a weird job, because I know many tools.

I’m a qualified statistician and data scientist, with qualifications from a range of reputable universities. I have a deep understanding of, and experience in, statistics, probability, and causal inference. I can design experiments, analyse data, and draw valid conclusions. I’m trained in econometrics, ecology, geospatial data analysis, and epidemiology.

I can code, of course. I’ve written reams of code, but I’m not going to pitch that here, because if you wanted a software engineer, you’d hire one who’d spent 10 years honing their coding skills rather than their mathematical and statistical skills.

People skills: yes. I can run projects involving people. I’ve managed lots of students, supervised a PhD, and run a number of conferences, workshops, and events. I’ve run projects in Southeast Asia, Switzerland, and Australia across multiple languages and multiple cultures. I’ve even organized bands, which is like organizing a conference but musicians are more trouble than ordinary people, so it counts double.

My conflict style and communication hygiene are strong. I can bring people together, resolve disputes, and get things done. I’m extremely good at getting to know people, socializing with them, and building bridges across cultural divides within and across nations. I’ve worked with people who have ADHD and autism; I’m comfortable working with challenging personalities.

I know how to communicate effectively between different disciplines—between scientists and the public as well as among scientists of various specializations. I’ve been a scientist in different fields myself.

I can write. In fact, I write constantly; I’ve penned over a million words on this blog and various other places, not just academic journals. I can write for different audiences, from technical papers to popular articles.

I’m not afraid of being in the spotlight—presenting myself publicly doesn’t faze me at all.

4 Constraints

5 Contact

Hit me up on my contact form, or email me at dan@thisdomain.

You can also check out my funding proposals so far.