Description of subprojects and results, including major changes from the original proposal
Condor Camp South Africa - 24 Participants (Nov 2024)
Fellowship pipeline: 33% applied to entry-level positions (Impact Academy, Anthropic fellowship)
All passed initial screening
8% advanced to later stages
Community building: 25% developing AI Safety infrastructure
Founded first university AI Safety groups: Witwatersrand (4 participants), Stellenbosch (2 participants)
Professional impact: 8% engaged in UK AISI evaluations through AIS Capetown
Key results from comparing pre and post-camp surveys:
- 12% increase in AIS-related career goals
-Perceived barriers to enter the field of AIS: There’s a 28% decrease in knowledge acquisition concerns, dropping from 15 participants (60%) at the start of Condor Camp to 8 participants (32%) by the end of the program. The decline in networking concerns (from 11 to 9 participants, -8%) and career path uncertainty (from 11 to 8 participants, -12%) suggests a reduction in barriers related to gaining connections and clarity in career paths. However, funding concerns saw a significant increase of 20%, rising from 5 participants (20%) to 10 participants (40%).
Camp ratings:
-Overall rating of 4.71 out of 5.
-83.33% would recommend participating in Condor Camp to friends.
-Participants also compared Condor Camp favorably with other similar experiences for highly talented students, giving it an average score of 4.06 out of 5, although seven participants (38.89%) gave it a rating of 3 out of 5.
-Participants found the program activities and opportunities helpful and useful (4.63 out of 5), as well as well-prepared and organized (4.59 out of 5).
Changes compared to the original plans:
- The costs ended up significantly lower
- The team setup changed: Carolina left the organisation to pursue other projects and we therefore had a stronger collaboration with our South African collaborators, involving them more in the operations-related responsibilities.