The Long-Term Future Fund (LTFF) is one of the EA Funds. Between Friday Dec 4th and Monday Dec 7th, we'll be available to answer any questions you have about the fund – we look forward to hearing from all of you!
The LTFF aims to positively influence the long-term trajectory of civilization by making grants that address global catastrophic risks, especially potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence and pandemics. In addition, we seek to promote, implement, and advocate for longtermist ideas, and to otherwise increase the likelihood that future generations will flourish.
Grant recommendations are made by a team of volunteer Fund Managers: Matt Wage, Helen Toner, Oliver Habryka, Adam Gleave and Asya Bergal. We are also fortunate to be advised by Nick Beckstead and Nicole Ross. You can read our bios here. Jonas Vollmer, who is heading EA Funds, also provides occasional advice to the Fund.
You can read about how we choose grants here. Our previous grant decisions and rationale are described in our payout reports. We'd welcome discussion and questions regarding our grant decisions, but to keep discussion in one place, please post comments related to our most recent grant round in this post.
Please ask any questions you like about the fund, including but not limited to:
- Our grant evaluation process.
- Areas we are excited about funding.
- Coordination between donors.
- Our future plans.
- Any uncertainties or complaints you have about the fund. (You can also e-mail us at ealongtermfuture[at]gmail[dot]com for anything that should remain confidential.)
We'd also welcome more free-form discussion, such as:
- What should the goals of the fund be?
- What is the comparative advantage of the fund compared to other donors?
- Why would you/would you not donate to the fund?
- What, if any, goals should the fund have other than making high-impact grants? Examples could include: legibility to donors; holding grantees accountable; setting incentives; identifying and training grant-making talent.
- How would you like the fund to communicate with donors?
We look forward to hearing your questions and ideas!
I am wondering how the fund managers are thinking more long-term about encouraging more independent researchers and projects to come into existence and stay in existence. So far as I can tell, there hasn't been much renewed granting to independent individuals and projects (i.e. granting for a second or third time to grantees who have previously already received an LTFF grant). Do most grantees have a solid plan for securing funding after their LTFF grant money runs out, and if so what do they tend to do?
I think LTFF is doing something valuable by giving people the freedom to not "sell out" to more traditional or mass-appeal funding sources (e.g. academia, established orgs, Patreon). I'm worried about a situation where receiving a grant from LTFF isn't enough to be sustainable, so that people go back to doing more "safe" things like working in academia or at an established org.
Any thoughts on this topic?
I claim we have proof of concept. The people who started the existing AI Safety research orgs did not have AI Safety mentors. Current independent researcher have more support than they had. In a way an org is just a crystalized collaboration of previously independent researchers.
I think that there are some PR reasons why it would be good if most AI Safety researchers where part of academia or other respectable orgs (e.g. DeepMind). But I also think it is good to have a minority of researchers who are disconnected ... (read more)