I think Michael's podcast (and sometimes "not a podcast") episodes are fantastic. The Inside view (Michael's podcast), Dwarkesh's podcast, and the MLST (Machine learning street talk) are my go-to AI-related podcasts and the selection of guests that Michael brings is impressive, with a good focus on AI-safety researchers.
I've personally listened to a lot of his episodes, almost all released in 2022 and 2023, and I've recommended a fair amount of them to others - they're quite well done (such as the recent episode with Evan Hubinger - really good).
I don't think it's the production quality that's the barrier for youtube views which @Austin points out below, but more to do with marketing, and I'd recommend reaching out to more established people in the podcasting world for figuring that out.
I'm going to donate a token $500 and hope others can help fund Michael more, the work he's doing is great and quite impactful (especially for people in the early stages of an AI safety career).
6
Making 52 AI Alignment Video Explainers and Podcasts
Project summary
I will publish 52 video explainers and podcasts about AI Alignment in a year.
What are this project's goals and how will you achieve them?
Goal is to publish one video explainer or podcast about AI Alignment a week for a year (52 videos total). I will achieve this goal by:
preparing interviews, recording & editing them and publishing the transcripts
reading AI Alignment papers, writing scripts, recording, editing and then uploading explainers
How will this funding be used?
Funding will be used to pay for my salary (including taxes).
For full funding amount ($40,000):
Produce 52 videos
Travel budget for in-person interviews
Budget for outsourcing assistance
For amounts higher than minimum funding ($500):
Will produce videos proportionally to how much funding I get
eg. if I get 50% of the full funding I'll produce 52 / 2 = 26 videos
Primarily remote interviews
Who is on your team and what's your track record on similar projects?
I am the only person on the team (cf. my website).
I am on track to publishing approximately 43 video explainers and podcasts in 2024 (published 5 in the past 6 weeks), building on 49 video explainers and podcasts in 2023.
Track record on podcasts:
Guests have included prominent alignment researchers such as Evan Hubinger, Collin Burns, Neel Nanda, Victoria Krakovna, David Krueger.
Most episodes generate 500-1k plays (meaning a download or someone listening to >1m).
Three popular episodes: Joscha Bach (3k plays, 35k views), Robert Miles (1.3k plays, 35k views), and Connor Leahy (1.2k plays, 16k views)
Track record on video explainers :
Published 5 video explainers to date (1-5k views each)
What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails? (premortem)
I underestimate the time needed per video for quality/impact, forcing me to reduce volume goals
My time is overcommitted to other personal and life priorities that limit video creation
What other funding are you or your project getting?
I get ~$100 / month from Patreon (16 supporters).
donated $500
Kunvar Thaman
9 months ago
donated $500
Austin Chen
9 months ago
I'm donating a token amount for now to signal interest, and get this project across its minimum funding bar. I have not listened much to The Inside View, but the guests Michael have attracted are quite good (eg recently Manifund regrantor @evhub and grantee @Holly_Elmore). The production quality seems pretty good at a glance (with editing & transcripts available). I also really like that Michael has also been consistently doing these for a year; I could imagine wanting to fund this project a lot more, upon further research or testimonials.
My primary misgivings are the low-ish view counts on Youtube, and uncertainty on whether Michael's videos have been helpful for others - this is where more testimonials like Cameron's are helpful!
donated $20
Cameron Holmes
10 months ago
I've listened/watched most episodes/explainers and I think this is a great project. This really helped introduce me (an outsider) to AI alignment and helped me to understand the state of the space and it's key concepts - beyond adjacent content from Rob Miles. As such I think it could form an important part of the pathway for others into the field.
I've been a Patreon since inception and I'm considering offering funding here as well.
donated $10