Benjamin Todd

One option to especially consider is working in a promising tech startup, which can potentially combine many of the benefits above.

High-performing teams with strong incentives to produce results, rapid growth, and the opportunity to gain a generalist skill set.

If the startup succeeds, you'll also get a good credential and money.

Bonus points if you can find a company where you can learn skills relevant to a top global problem.

Of course, a lot of startups are terribly run and likely to fail.

But you can take steps to increase your chances of working at a good one.

Another option to consider is working at top AI labs, such as OpenAI or DeepMind.

These are high-performing organizations that can let you learn about and make connections within AI research, while also gaining great backup options.

This would ideally be in a role directly working on AI safety or policy, as simply boosting the development of AI capabilities could easily be harmful due to their potential risks.

We don't recommend taking harmful roles to gain career capital.

However, not all experts agree on the size of those risks.

Within the private sector, some options people commonly consider include working in big tech, top financial firms, consulting, which can also let you experience several industries, professional services, like working at one of the big four accounting firms, and law.

You should eliminate options you think are harmful and focus on those where you might have the best fit.

2.

Go to graduate school in carefully chosen subjects.

People often drift into expensive graduate programs that don't offer good backup options, even if they're not sure about academia.

this is often not a good move.

Bilal did a research project in cosmology at the end of his undergraduate degree.

Continuing into a PhD just seemed like the natural next step.

But once he started his PhD, he concluded that it wouldn't be good at teaching him much except how to do academic cosmology, and he didn't think a career in academic cosmology would be an especially good way for him to make a difference.