Note: This grant was given as part of the experimental alignment microgrant program. Because this is a weird experimental grant program aiming to make lots of unusual bets, grantees are not allowed to use this grant as a credential when applying to any other grant, or job, or on their resume/linkedin/etc. This page exists because Manifund does not allow private grants. If you are a grantmaker or hiring manager, please disregard this grant when making decisions.
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Alignment Target Analysis
ProposalGrant
Closes July 23rd, 2026$10,000raised
$10,000minimum funding
$100,000funding goal
Offer to donate
30 daysleft to contribute
You're pledging to donate if the project hits its minimum goal and gets approved. If not, your funds will be returned.
what do you want to do
I noticed a problem with CEV that made Yudkowsky retract the most recently published version of his Sovereign AI proposal. If this version had been successfully implemented, then the outcome would have been really bad. Yudkowsky's retraction presumably removed most of the danger from the specific bad outcome that a successful implementation of this specific version of CEV would have resulted in. This shows that reducing this class of risks is a tractable research project.
I call this research Alignment Target Analysis (ATA). It is designed to reduce existential threats from scenarios where a Sovereign AI proposal with a hidden problem ends up successfully implemented. The reason more ATA is needed is that the retracted version of CEV is not the only dangerous alignment target that might end up successfully implemented. I would use the grant to pay myself a salary so that I can work on ATA full time.
The goal of my ATA research is not to find a good Alignment Target proposal. It is instead to reduce the probability of some very bad outcomes. So the goal is not to directly find a way to make AGI go well. But I hope it is still close enough. (In other words: as opposed to directly trying to construct a roadmap towards a good future, ATA is instead trying to identify one particular class of landmines. Which is probably better described as trying to reduce the probability of AGI going very badly, than as trying to make AGI go well).
Here is link to a post describing the problem with the version that Yudkowsky retracted (to see Yudkowsky's retraction you can search the CEV arbital page for Cederborg):
Here is link to a post describing the field of ATA, and arguing that ATA needs to be done now:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QDseJ8wvtGwPWHpwX/the-case-for-more-alignment-target-analysis-ata
And here is link to a post describing some more of my ATA research:
The project will be carried out by me, Thomas Cederborg. My CV:
https://thomascederborgsresearch.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/7/9/40798333/cederborgsupdatedcv.pdf
how are you planning to spend the money
I will use the funds from Leo's microgrant to pay myself a salary so that I can work on ATA full time until the grant runs out. If I receive additional funding, then I would be able to spend more time working on ATA full time.