# AGI Safety Needs People With All Skillsets!

*(Cross-posted to* [*EA Forum*](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/NJtC8xzD8BgF3TmEp/agi-safety-needs-people-with-all-skillsets)*)*

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DMUzQIB394jguu1vE-pbU9Pbqzx7sJjAtMYfteH2U6e5S_iuGoIgsb--KwmJO32rdpOQffo02vzKe5MdeJ1USic9VctOly11n8XIxOKnChitRdKHknnN9U_Qe8VOF7WsNv0nwHBdWaJqgvmRMYmT7UU)

For quite a while, I had two major misconceptions about careers and volunteering in AGI safety. And I know others have them, too:

1.  Only people with a background in computer science or math can help with AGI safety.
2.  Only people [smarter than I](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/x9Rn5SfapcbbZaZy9/ea-for-dumb-people) can help with AGI safety. 

This is false, and here’s why.

If we want to win the race against AI capabilities research, we indeed need as many geniuses with a background in computer science or adjacent fields as we can get. But these people would have a hard time doing their work without others who set up the organizations they work at, who [build the funding ecosystem](http://grantsalign.ai/), who run the retreats where they meet like-minded people, who design their websites, who wipe their office floors. In addition, they would profit from having people who do their taxes, can advise them on visa issues, [help them with health problems](https://www.aisafetysupport.org/resources/shay), give them [productivity coaching](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q0NUPXpTOz6xygf4UMT-CsNMC187AHdwAWv55HyBodQ/edit#), and so on and so on. Over the last years, AGI safety has grown into a large ecosystem of individuals and organizations. This ecosystem depends on far more than only those who do the research.

Here is a list of skill bottlenecks I’ve found in conversations with other AI safety field builders:

*   [Operations people](https://80000hours.org/articles/operations-management/)
*   [PAs](https://pineappleoperations.org/being-a-pa)
*   Discussion group facilitators (e.g. for [AGISF](https://www.eacambridge.org/agi-safety-fundamentals))
*   Event organizers (e.g. for [AI Safety Camp](https://aisafety.camp/), conferences)
*   Lawyers (e.g. for helping to set up organizations, and advising on the tax implications of novel systems we’re designing like [Impact Markets](https://impactmarkets.io/))
*   Founders (An alignment project incubator is in the making. Until it is ready to go public, you might want to fill out 80k’s [census of everyone who could ever see themselves doing longtermist work](https://80000hours.typeform.com/to/tuQ0bPAF))
*   [Communicators](https://join.slack.com/t/eacreativesco-yno1824/shared_invite/zt-1b3fo9vox-zATqLU2uf7nATWhPtsGtBQ) (written and verbal)
*   Everything HR-related
    *   Mobility/Visa support
    *   Hiring
    *   Salary-related things: Calculating living cost, taxes, health insurance, …
*   Bookkeeping
    *   Bookkeepers
    *   Accountants
        *   Payable
        *   Receivable
    *   Auditors
*   [Software engineers](https://alignment.dev/) (to build projects like [Stampy](https://ui.stampy.ai/), Idea Marketplace, [Impact Markets](https://impactmarkets.io/), etc.)
*   Particularly valuable are people who can get a broad overview of the current AGI alignment ecosystem and kickstart projects which can absorb people in a scalable manner.

…and you, too, can find your niche, even if you don’t bring any of these particular skill sets. For inspiration, here is a list of less standard career paths which turned out valuable for the ecosystem:

*   YouTubers ([Rob Miles](https://www.youtube.com/c/RobertMilesAI))
*   Architects ([Tereza Flidrova](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mNBLzcdoiqCWFc8nL/becoming-an-ea-architect-my-first-month-as-an-independent))
*   Cooking and cleaning staff (e.g. at [CEEALAR](https://ceealar.org/))
*   [Graphic designers](https://join.slack.com/t/eacreativesco-yno1824/shared_invite/zt-1b3fo9vox-zATqLU2uf7nATWhPtsGtBQ) (for logos and websites)
*   …

  
If you want to help and are not sure how: Feel free to use the comments below this post for career discussions. And make sure to reach out to [80,000 hours](https://80000hours.org/) and [AI Safety Support](https://www.aisafetysupport.org/) for free career coaching!