• Intensive three-day workshops for students to explore AI safety and biosecurity.

    Explore the foundational arguments around risks from advanced AI and biotechnology. Our workshops are for students who want to learn more about what they can do to have a large social impact with their careers.

At our workshops

As breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and biotechnology have rapidly progressed, experts have increasingly spoken out on the risks.

Our events are designed for students to evaluate these arguments. Over a weekend-long workshop, students explore the case for improving safety measures for AI and biotechnology, and hear first-hand about the career journeys of professionals working in the fields.

Ultimately, our goal is to give students the information they need to work out where they stand on these issues themselves and how they might approach careers that try to tackle them.

Apply to a workshop

We host three-day residential workshops for university students who are interested in exploring AI safety and biosecurity.

Workshops have a $35 ticket price to cover meals and accommodation during the workshop. Travel support is available for some who would otherwise be unable to attend.

Each workshop typically has 20-35 attendees.

Workshop Schedule

Arrival Day
2:00 PM Arrive between 2:00 and 3:00
3:30 PM Opening Session
5:20 PM Get situated
6:00 PM Lighting Shares
8:00 PM Dinner
8:00 PM Social
Day 1
8:30 AM Breakfast
9:30 PM Morning briefing
10:00 AM Approaches in biorisk
11:10 AM Bio-risk guest speaker n.1
12:10 PM Bio-risk guest speaker n.2
1:00 PM Lunch
2:00 PM Walk with 1-1s
3:40 PM Q&A with bio guest speakers
5:15 PM Career Planning
6:30 PM Lighting Shares
7:00 PM Dinner
8:00 PM Coat of Arms
Day 2
8:30 AM Breakfast
9:30 PM Morning briefing
10:00 AM AI x-risk: Risk Factors
11:10 AM AI x-risk: Timelines and Approaches
12:20 PM AI guest speaker n.1
1:00 PM Lunch
2:00 PM AI guest speaker n.2
2:50 PM Walk with 1-1s
4:40 PM Q&A with AI guest speakers
6:30 PM Lighting Shares
7:00 PM Dinner
8:00 PM Closing Session
8:30 PM What Motivates You?

FAQs

  • Anyone who is a current university student can apply, including undergraduate and graduate students. Students from anywhere in the world are welcome.

  • The workshop costs $35 USD to attend, with meals and accommodation provided for all attendees.

    Additionally, we are sometimes able to reimburse travel costs for those who would otherwise be unable to attend.

    Attendees purchase their ticket after receiving an acceptance to the workshop — there is no cost to apply.

    For more info on travel support, refer to our Travel Support Policy.

  • All participants are expected to have some basic familiarity with AI safety or biosecurity, although we encourage you to apply no matter how much you already know.

    We think the workshop is beneficial for students who are new to these ideas as well as those who have been exploring them for a couple years.

    Our workshops have a few hours of pre-reading before the weekend, so that all come with a shared level of basic understanding.

    You can see our schedule or our advice for applying to get a better sense of what content the workshops cover.

  • See our upcoming events here.

  • Each workshop has four guest speakers: two working in AI safety and two in biosecurity.

    During a guest session, the guest speaker presents on their career journey so far, their current projects, and advice for navigating the field.

If you have further questions, you can contact us at info@globalchallengesproject.org

What our workshops are like

Apply to our next workshop