Taking a leave of absence from Open Philanthropy to work on AI safety

Abstract

Holden Karnofsky, CEO of Open Philanthropy, announces he will be taking a leave of absence from the organization to work directly on AI safety. Karnofsky explains that he believes the risk of transformative AI being developed within the decade is too high and that working directly on AI safety is a more effective way to address this risk than grantmaking. He also mentions that he has always aspired to help build multiple organizations rather than running one indefinitely. During his leave, Karnofsky will focus on AI safety standards and explore other interventions to reduce AI risk. He plans to join or start another organization if he decides to work full-time on AI safety. Karnofsky expresses his intention to be transparent about his conflict of interest, which arises from his wife’s equity ownership in OpenAI and Anthropic. He also discusses the possibility of his role being limited to advisory work due to the conflict of interest. – AI-generated abstract.