<aside> 🤖 We hope you apply for the AISST Policy Fellowship this spring! Here, you can find a draft of the syllabus we’ll use throughout the fellowship. It contains all the papers we’ll read together, as well as several others, marked “additional readings,” which we’ve provided for participants to read independently if they’re especially interested in a particular topic. Note that this is a draft and subject to change.

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Week 1: Introduction to machine learning and AI

1. But what is a neural network? (3Blue1Brown, 2017). Watch first 12.5 min.
2. The AI Triad and what it means for national security strategy (Buchanan, 2020) 21 min.
3. Visualizing the deep learning revolution (Ngo, 2023). 15 min.
4. 4 charts that show why AI progress is unlikely to slow down (Henshall, 2023). 8 min.

Additional readings:

Week 2: Overview of risks from advanced AI systems

1. An overview of catastrophic AI risks (Hendrycks et al., 2023). Read pgs. 2, 6-7, bottom of page 8-11 (Executive summary; § 2.0, 2.1, 2.3, 2.4). 12 mins.
2. Harms from increasingly agentic algorithmic systems (Chan et al., 2023). Read pgs. 2-6 (§ 1 & 2). 10 min.
3. An overview of catastrophic AI risks (Hendrycks et al., 2023). Read pgs. 38–40 (§ 5.3, half of 5.4). 10 min.
4. Why AI alignment could be hard with modern deep learning **(Cotra, 2021). 20 min.

Additional readings:

Week 3: Safety standards and regulations

1. Frontier AI regulation: Managing emerging risks to public safety (Anderljung et al., 2023). Read pgs. 3, 6-32, 37-38. (Executive summary; Introduction; § 2-5; Appendix B). 55 min. Break for discussion after § 2.
2. Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (The White House, 2023). Read §4. 15 min.

Additional readings:

Week 4: AI audits and evaluations

1. Model evaluations for extreme risks (Shevlane et al., 2023). Read pgs. 1-14. (§ 1–4). 30 min. Break for discussion after § 2.