Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $428,942 to the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative to support their collaboration with Stanford Existential Risks Initiative (SERI) on SERI’s Machine Learning Alignment Theory Scholars (MATS) program. MATS is an educational seminar and independent research program that aims to provide scholars with talks, workshops, and research mentorship in the field of AI alignment, and connect them with in-person alignment research communities.
This grant will support the MATS program’s fourth cohort. This follows Open Philanthropy’s November 2022 support for the previous iteration of MATS, and falls within its focus area of potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence. Open Philanthropy also made a separate grant to AI Safety Support for this cohort.