Research update — frontier AI results
Emergent Misalignment coauthor Daniel used to get burnout lasting weeks or months; not since our eight calls 9 months ago. He’s also gained ~5h/day after losing interest in doomscrolling.
Founding engineer’s burnout lifted in weeks: he was planning to leave; instead he started shipping again. He also shared feedback he’d been withholding for half a year; the founders acted on it immediately.
Frontier lab researcher went from avoiding conflict with respected colleagues to challenging them. 18mo later he still does this, and even runs his own team.
These were bounties: payment forbidden until lasting results. People dm’d me to set bounties, I chose which to hunt, they chose if/when to pay. I also follow up 6, 12, 18+ months later to track results. All AI bounties:
Results have involved meetings with me plus home practice, and required fewer hours than a meditation retreat.
Working with Daniel last summer showed me this can benefit people who have trouble feeling emotions in their body — it just takes more work. (Some types of people still probably can’t benefit, feel free to ask me which.)
My focus: burnout, conflict-avoidance, and agency for people building frontier AI.
Which types of people can’t seem to benefit?