Athena Retreat 2024

In February 2024, Athena fellows, staff, speakers, and coaches spent five days together in Oxford to participate in a compact seminar program. Speakers from organizations including Apollo Research, Aligned AI, PIBBSS, Foresight Institute, GPI, and Cooperative AI Foundation met with mentees to share their research agendas and guidance.

Retreat Seminar

Fieldmapping of technical approaches and institutions
AI policy and governance
Career, funding, and networking opportunities
How to thrive as a woman or genderqueer individual in AI safety

Seminar Presentations

Charlie Griffin: Key Alignment Concepts
Rebecca Gorman: Aligned AI's approach to alignment and safety research / Succeeding and moving up the ladder as a woman in technical roles
Marius Hobbhahn: Deceptive alignment: where most of the catastrophic AI risk comes from
Elliott Thornley: The Shutdown Problem - Incomplete Preferences as a Solution
Katie Glass: Self-Promotion workshop
Lewis Hammond: Multi-Agent Risks from Advanced AI
Niamh Peren: Foresight Opportunities
Linda Linsefors: Shared ontology/abstractions is necessary for alignment/helpfulness/low-impact
Alan Chan: Governing Agents
Nora Ammann: Untitled

"Before arriving I didn't have any well-defined plan for the future, my only intention was: study, study and study. And now I feel very motivated, I understand that I am perfectly capable of working in this area and setting up my own business.”
Maria, Athena Retreat Attendee ‘24

"I also feel a little more confident now, because the atmosphere here was really encouraging.”
Jeanne, Athena Fellow ‘24

"I feel so much more confident about applying for jobs and entering the field, and about making my own contributions with my research. I feel like I actually have a sense of what the field is that I'm entering. I've met a bunch of incredible people, made connections that I'm sure will last, and learned a ton in the process."
Adelin, Athena Fellow ‘24
— a 2024 fellow