TLDR: Belgrade AI Safety (BAIS, previously AI Safety Hub Serbia, AISHS) office, has existed for 10 months and has attracted a few different researchers in AI Safety and some interest from EA in general. We are looking for funding for the rest of 2024/2025 and project growth. We’re applying for a budget which would include paying a Project Manager 0.5 FTE to manage the promotion of the venue, review the applications, and handle courses we’re planning on launching. This would capitalize on the momentum we started and utilize the office space more.If you donate just a bit, you're buying a few extra weeks to the project, which we very much appreciate!
For questions or inquiries, please email Dušan [dusan.d.nesic at efektivnialtruizam.com] To apply for a stay, fill in this form. If your org wants to do a retreat in Serbia, please email Tanja Trninić [tanja.trninic at efektivnialtruizam.com].
In-depth:
BAIS office has existed for 10 months now, and has attracted a few different researchers in AI Safety and some interest from EA in general (see track record below). While initial work was promising, capacities are underutilized, and more effort is required to pursue further impact.
Simultaneously, Serbia has become far more engaged in AI governance (Emanuel Macron visited the AI conference in Belgrade, from 2025, Serbia is chairing the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) for the next three years). Politically, it stands at the intersection of Brussels, Washington, Moscow, and Beijing, making it a great place to develop global governance thinking. AI Safety Law Serbia (separate project) has started and is progressing well, so hopefully Serbia becomes one of the countries with saner AI policies within the next year, which then spreads through the connections mentioned above.
Thus, we are looking to expand BAIS. Firstly, we are planning to start virtual and in-person AI Safety courses by Bluedot and PIBBSS. We have arranged help from AIS Hungary with facilitation in the beginning but we have two existing members that can also run the course in person (one for the technical, one for the governance track).
Secondly, we are excited to plan Safety Spring Sprint Serbia (4S) this coming spring 2025 - a one-month series of hackathons and co-working developed together with governance researchers (we have tentative interest from APART Labs and PIBBSS researchers). This would gather about 20-30 people most excited about the project in a combination of paid and free seats at the office.
Thirdly, with enough funding we would hire a full-time project manager for BAIS to pilot the project.
Finally, we would work on partnerships for regular office space commitment. The space is enough for smaller versions of programs such as ML4Good or similar retreats, without being too remote - Belgrade is a lively city and there is plenty to do and try.
Other benefits of the project's locations come from Serbia’s visa policy, which is unique:
Visa-free 3 months per 6 months to Western countries (or holders of EU/US visa)
Unlimited (w/monthly border crossings ie, 25 EUR and 3 hours) for Chinese and Russian citizens
They have a hard time staying long in other countries.
It is also fairly easy/cheap (~500 Eur start+300 Eur/month tax) to get a residency permit/health insurance/social insurance (citizenship after 3-5 years).
This makes it a good gathering point for AIS researchers. As a founder of EA Serbia and ENAIS, I believe to have found a great venue:
Fairly central (20 minutes walk to City Square)
It fits 10-15 people (more in the coffee shop downstairs if the need arises)
Activist landlords that agree with our mission (and thus give us lower rent :) )
Renovated and adjusted to our needs (although funding for ergonomic furniture would go a long way)
1) Provide an office where people can be close to EU/UK without having problems with Visas/pay as much in living costs.
2) Have the capacity in case of future geopolitical shifts to quickly scale up office (and possibly housing) to help AIS researchers fleeing their countries. (e.g., had this office existed in 2022, it could have been a Schelling point for Russian/Ukrainian researchers while they found more permanent solutions).
3) Having office space is prestigious, and in my current networking efforts within Serbia, saying that AIS Hub Serbia was a physical space and being able to offer it to Serbian researchers has been a boon.
4) Organize local AI Safety events (AGISF, Key Phenomena in Risk, 4S) to engage talent in the local community.
5) Organizing smaller work retreats/gatherings in the office for cheap/free for small projects that benefit from frugal retreats.
6) Office doubles as meeting/working space for EA Serbia members while capacity is not full. This is a side goal and would be phased out if the office was at capacity.
Minimum funding raised here goes directly to rents and utilities and nothing else. Currently, the necessary labor of selecting people/maintaining the office/negotiate with landlords is done by me on a voluntary basis, but as the project is growing, I want to outsource that to a project manager.
Our main project manager is Tatiana Skuratova, Co-founder of EA Serbia and Recruitment Lead at Impact Ops, a leading operations agency within the Effective Altruism community. Tatiana has over 7 years of diverse professional experience spanning recruitment, HR practices, business development, marketing, and operations. She has successfully built and led various communities, including student councils and Rotary clubs.
Her expertise lies in scaling organizations, placing top talent, and implementing HR solutions across different markets, particularly in the APAC and EMEA regions. Tatiana excels in strategic recruitment and operational management, having worked in industries ranging from tech to social enterprises. With a strong background in international relations and cross-cultural communication, she brings a global perspective to her work, always focusing on aligning talent with impactful projects.
Our advisor is Dušan D. Nešić, (LinkedIn) founder of EA Serbia and ENAIS, Ops Lead at PIBBSS. I have built communities such as student councils and clubs, as well as professional organizations and academic gatherings for ~12 years, and since this project is fairly low-key, I think this is enough expertise for now. I would like to gather a board of trustees to decide on applicants, but the flow currently does not require such a level of governance, yet.
Tanja Trninic, EA Serbia Community Builder, is also helping with the office space in her free time. She speaks Chinese, English, and Serbian fluently and has been an activist for almost 20 years in different movements and in EA for the past 2.
In the past 10 months we have hosted guests from Timaeus, PIBBSS, ARB research, and in fall we are home to the group retreat for Impact Ops. So far everyone praised the convenience of Serbian visa and the liveliness and cuisine available in the city. Complaints before were about the place looking so-so, which we have fixed through some decorations, although we'd ideally buy better ergonomic equipment with sufficient funds. We also did not have an AC until this summer, so the temperature was less than ideal until recently. We also have a researcher working from the office most days, and it is used for EA Serbia events several times per month.
The only extreme failure scenario is one of geopolitical turmoil capturing Serbia while we have many guests visiting, but the combined probabilities of that are sufficiently low.
Office space not being used by tenants is the most probable failure, but as it is quite cheap, not too much has been lost. I believe the project is still worthwhile based on the value of having a flexible capacity to accept researchers from Russia/China/other countries outside of EU/US/UK. Additionally, even if not many tenants are present, Goal #3 is still achieved, and so far I have found it useful.
We will also apply to EAIF and Meta-Funders, nothing confirmed as of yet.
Individuals, please apply at this link! :)
If your org wants to do a retreat in Serbia, please email Tanja Trninić.
Sasha Cooper
2 months ago
My partner and I made notes on all of the projects in the EACC initiative, and thought this was one of the more convincing among some really strong competition.
Our quick and dirty notes:
He: 'Frugal' in middle income country = high value! Have interacted professionally with Dusan a handful of times, and he was very impressive
They: In favour of AI safety in lower income countries both for low cost and for increased diversity of ideas; in favour of funding physical space
<3
Dusan D Nesic
3 months ago
Brief update this time, more to be written in the updated main post.
We've set up the office and done some renovations which were needed (some paid by the landlord, mostly by Dušan). We have hosted a handful of researchers for mixed amounts of time, but we are mostly constrained in time as only one EA person is helping with the venue for a few hours per month (with Dušan holding a full time job and two board positions). Thus, we are now focusing on utilizing the venue more and organizing events and retreats, after finding someone to work full time on the office.
Some notable points:
One researcher applied for MATS and worked from the office a few days per week for a few months and is in the hiring process for Timaeus.
Serbia AI Safety Law team met in the office ~1 time per month while working on writing the law.
One researcher worked from the office for about two months, networked, and later went on to do PIBBSS Fellowship.
A Timaeus researcher stayed for a week with high praise.
Two more events and one more visit was planned but were cancelled.
One EA org retreat is confirmed for Serbia in November to be done in the office.
Once per month AI Safety meetings in the venue (besides the EA events which have also used the venue).
Hire our first employee (if funds allow).
Organize Serbia Summer Safety Sprint (4S, pronounced Force) with a focus on governance and technical safety people working together.
Keep existing, since one of our major benefits is being present in case of a global issue where we need to place researchers from visa-free countries that could not go to US/EU/UK but can come to Serbia.
Funds for employment, referral of good project managers for such a project, referral of people who need venues for retreats/coworking.
Dusan D Nesic
4 months ago
@ Hello Elizabeth! By the end of the week we'll have an update, but in brief what I said to Jason ~4 months ago still stands; we have people occasionally visiting, we had two more researchers come since then (one from Timaeus, one from PIBBSS who stayed around two months), all with positive experiences.
We are ops capacity constrained (funding is enough for the office space, not enough for salaries on top), so we are hoping for more funding for our more ambitious ask which includes a part time worker who would work on making the summer project a reality. Likely we'd start next summer, with maybe a small fall pilot to test what it's like to have many people come in. We are also looking into using a summer house of a EA Serbia member as a low-cost retreat venue for up to 20 people, perhaps in combination with this office to make it possible for small remote-first orgs to run retreats and also co-work.
Currently our funding for renting the venue ran out this month, so further funding would be great - currently I am paying for the gap from my pocket, but that cannot last too long.
Austin Chen
4 months ago
@DusanDNesic Thanks for the update -- I've put in another $1100 in continued support.
I am a bit concerned that low-level funding like this might be just enough to sustain your operations but not enough to lead to the kind of scaling/network effects that make a coworking space very valuable; at present, it seems like usage is a bit low. I would be interested in seeing the more ambitious ask; I imagine other funders, like Meta Charity Funders and EA Infrastructure Fund, would be interested too!
Dusan D Nesic
3 months ago
@Austin thank you for your continued support! Yeah, those are my thoughts too. We've applied to EAIF as a part of EA Serbia funding and did not get funding for the office (although we got funded otherwise), so they may be sceptical of spaces like these. Although recently Fixed point has had to close down, so that leaves only us in Europe outside of the UK (as far as I know) so maybe it'll be different now. I'll be sure to submit an application in August for both (I did not consider Meta Charity Funders, thanks for that!)
As for the cost of the more ambitious ask, it's in the budget in the original proposal, but warrants updating for sure before I make the ask to the funds, so I'll update it here as well once I finish it. Thank you again!
Jason
7 months ago
I'm curious about how this is going and how many researchers have used it, now that it has been a few months since opening.
Dusan D Nesic
7 months ago
@Jason Hi Jason, sorry, the notification went unseen by me for a bit there!
Benefits so far: We still have our one full-time person, plus a new researcher (predicted above). A few more signed up for summer so summer may be more active. Otherwise no new sign-ups yet which is underwhelming.
A benefit that I did not expect as much is the credibility that comes with having a physical office to offer to researchers in Serbia - Academics take me more seriously, and I hold more sway in conversation with politicians.
The idea for the next few months is to put a bit more effort into promotion, perhaps make a simple website, and see if we can get more people to use the office over the summer.
Dusan D Nesic
4 months ago
@Loppukilpailija Apologies for the late reply, and thanks for the patience, somehow I did not see the email! We've had some people come over (one from PIBBSS, one from Timaeus), and two orgs cancelled attendance due to scheduling conflicts, but we may yet have one more larger event happen before the end of the summer. Main blocker is that we do not have enough funds for anyone to work on this part-time even, and our volunteer work is keeping us afloat but not really growing us.
Austin Chen
11 months ago
And approving this project, as furthering our cause of fostering the EA community!
Renan Araujo
11 months ago
I like the idea of having hubs in various places, especially when they're visa-friendly and geographically close to potentially unstable regions. Based on Austin's comment below, this project seems to have been valuable to at least two people I also respect (even though I didn't ask them directly), which seems like a good enough proof-of-concept for a small grant.
I'd be keen to hear more about:
1) Other people who use or have used it, and what they thought about the experience
2) How many people you expect to serve (based on e.g., trends in previous applicants, expansion plans etc)
Dusan D Nesic
11 months ago
Thanks @RenanAraujo! I do recommend asking Gavin and Misha to weigh in on the value of this, but I responded to Austin on what my best guess of the value is from the few talks we did.
1) We have not had that many guests - we finished setting up recently, and most people who signed up to come have signed up to come in 2024. I do think we may push ahead with something like "Prague Fall Season" but much much smaller in scale because of our smaller office and no funding, in order to get more people to come at the same time and enjoy the network benefits.
2) We hope to have ~5 people around all the time, and that seems basically sensible from the sign-ups so far, although probably starting from Spring.
Austin Chen
11 months ago
Funding this to the minimum ask, as it seems like very good bang-for-the-buck and it seems like two people I respect (Gavin and Misha) have gotten value from this. I have lots of uncertainty about the value of starting new hubs vs consolidating in a few regions, but happy to put a bit of funding down towards a cheap experiment.
Dusan D Nesic
11 months ago
@Austin Thanks! I think the main value for them was a country to work from in which they can both be visa free while they recuperate their visa days for EU/wait for US visa. They also gave a great AIS talk and spoke about prediction markets which is still highly regarded talk by EA Serbia members, so some cross-benefits there. I am unsure how much they used the office as I do not work from there, and we were not fully set-up in October when they were here.
I generally agree - I would not like to have an abundance of hubs, compared to the benefit of having few. I would not start a hub in Serbia has it not been some interest and the offer of this extremely cheap office space. I think CEEALAR and Fixed Point both do important and good work, but they are in the UK and EU respectively and that is prohibitive for some people (hell, I need at least ~3 months to get a UK visa unless I pay ~250 pounds to speed up the process!)
Robert Cousineau
11 months ago
Are you able to provide more information about the office space you are looking at, the expected monthly cost, if you have people you know would take you up on it, etc?
Dusan D Nesic
11 months ago
@RobertCousineau Hi Robert! In the post on LW you can see photos of the space. Cost is about 550 Eur per month with utilities (internet, electricity, water), although we would prefer having ~600 per month so that we can pay someone to clean the office weekly. The office has been used to comfortably work for ~6 people working at the same time without any problems, up to 14 could be done for meetings and such, perhaps not for quiet work. The quality of furniture and such is not up there with fancier workspaces, but is good considering it is the free furniture we inherited in the space - we would improve it if we overcome the funding limit, based on what people want to see here.
So far, we had a PIBBSS fellow come over, @gleech and @yagudin (hopefully tagged the right person :D ), all because they needed time to work near EU but be some time outside of it due to visa limitations for UK/Russian citizens. We have some people who want to come because medical care here is radically cheaper and they need it/don't have it in EU so they can keep working here while taking care of their health, and two MATS alumni want to work from Serbia in ~few months. We also have currently one and possibly more researchers from Russia who already live in Serbia who could use office space which they currently lack.
We have not done much active outreach until now as we were testing the space so this is the passive gathering of people, conceivably there would be more, and depending on geopolitics, there may be much more need in the future.
Robert Cousineau
11 months ago
@DusanDNesic that lesswrong writeup is awesome. I've been wanting to set something like CEEALAR (or even just a co=working space like you have) in the US, but finding something that is near/in a major metro and is cheap enough I can fund it is very tough. Quite happy you are doing so in Belgrade!
That is a nice guest list!
Out of personal curiosity, I'd be interested in a write-up (quarterly?) of what is going on, but it seem like you are ahead of the game there so far :)