I am a big believer in Lawrence and the team at BASE. Their mission is very important to the future of AI safety and the broader community's ability to leverage talent, ideas, and viewpoints from under-represented and geographically diverse populations. Without greater inclusivity and this type of representation in AIS, I worry that the community will generate safety research and solutions which are limited in scope, viability, and impact globally. For these reasons I have volunteered to be a Mentor for the Cohort 2 Fellowship, and also support this specific initiative.

Tomoko - wishing you well in this effort. I remember speaking with you during the Apart research Technical AI Governance hackathon and have been impressed by your work since then. We need more Japanese AI safety / risk voices in the community, and your cross-cultural work is important and underserved from my perspective.

Good luck @aashkapatel - your passion and vision for this educational project is inspiring.

I was impressed by Aashka's AI nutrition label idea previously, and financially supported the IASEAI trip. Aashka managed to secure support for that idea from Dr. Russell via her trip, and that is endorsement is now scaling to additional initiatives. This traction is high signal for me. I also value that this is a Global South initiative - which we need more of - and I want to support greater visibility on these types of projects globally. I encourage others to seed fund this project for larger funding by others with means.

Fantastic news and update @aashkapatel - congrats again! Sounds like you have some great next steps and solid set of new networking contacts to help down the line.

I've only visited once but really enjoyed the space and community there. I appreciated the chance to meet others interested in AI safety, and organic conversations with others that sparked new ideas or chances for future collaboration. Great to see endorsements from others here that I trust and admire for their field/org-building in the community (e.g. Seldon Lab). The hard work of the AI safety community needs physical space for gathering and co-creation.

Please see my comment below in support of my donation.

I am currently in an AISC research project led by Dr. Ananthi Al Ramiah , on designing mass movements for responsible/safe AI. AISC is a great community for newcomers to AI safety. It has been a big part of further activating me to shift from a U.S. government career in national security/international affairs/AI governance work into a full-time career pivot out of government into AI safety. I believe AISC can be a very important part of shaping 2026 discussions and action on "slowing down AI development," and my contribution is towards that end and to also show appreciation for the opportunities of the program for people like me.

@Mateusz-Baginski , as a somewhat newcomer to Manifund, but very interested in your seminar and fellowship vision for purposes of deepening in-person community building within the AI safety realm, may I ask a question: how do you see the seminar or the fellowship impacting future AI policy or governance outcomes or specific actions/changes? Thank you, and congratulations on the initial seminar funds being funded! ~ Erik

Awesome! It worked!

Addressing growing challenges in Agentic AI vulnerabilities at enterprise deployment level.