Episode Details

TL;DR

Here are the key points I want you to take away from this post:

1. There are maybe 30 to 60 people in the world doing AI safety grantmaking, collectively directing hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Soon, there will be >$1B being directed per year, and potentially multiple billions.
2. AI safety grantmaking orgs like CG have a strong track record of counterfactually seeding impactful organizations and careers.
3. Grantmaking involves a lot more than evaluating a stack of inbound proposals. You also proactively generate new grants (e.g., headhunting founders, designing new funding programs), provide strategic advice to grantees, write memos that shape funding strategy, and generally serve as connective tissue in the ecosystem.
4. The AI safety grantmaking ecosystem is currently leaving good grant opportunities on the table due to a lack of grantmaker capacity. This is bad.
   1. More grantmakers would also unlock more capital, because funders are more willing to write cheques when there are people who can find and vet promising opportunities.
5. Everyone who reads this should not necessarily rush to become a grantmaker. Direct work is great, and the entire ecosystem is talent-starved in so many ways. But my sense [...]

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Outline:

(00:14) TL;DR

(02:00) Intro

(03:40) What do grantmakers do?

(04:13) Passive grantmaking

(05:05) Active grantmaking

(07:17) Non-grantmaking activities

(08:49) Why I think grantmaking is underratedly impactful

(08:54) Grantmaking has a strong track record

(10:49) The ratio of AI safety philanthropic capital to grantmakers is kinda wild

(12:08) Grantmaking on current margins looks pretty solid

(15:38) Grantmaking vs direct work

(17:09) Call to action

(20:55) Appendix - Things that arent great about grantmaking

The original text contained 16 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
March 30th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/AsxgoXZsuEEX6br6f/what-it-s-like-to-be-an-ai-safety-grantmaker-and-why-we-need

Linkpost URL:
https://open.substack.com/pub/secretthirdthingai/p/what-its-like-to-be-an-ai-safety

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.