This project is about coordinating unpaid volunteers to write and edit Wikipedia articles to improve the coverage of topics related to AI safety and governance. Wikipedia is consistently one of the top-ranked sites in Google search results, but many articles on AI are badly out of date or yet to be created. Besides writing content that could easily get thousands of views per month, volunteers will build career capital by demonstrating their ability to write clearly and accurately about subjects on the cutting edge of AI.
About the project
Example topics that volunteers could write about:
- Proposed or enacted legislation or executive orders in AI in the U.S., China, EU, and other jurisdictions
- Broader topics in AI governance
- Research in AI safety and security covered in multiple reliable secondary sources (arXiv and the Alignment Forum don't count)
- Notable organizations or individuals that have been covered in multiple reliable secondary sources
- New research in AI welfare covered in reliable sources
Theory of change
Creating or editing Wikipedia articles is one of the most accessible ways to inform the public (including policymakers) on frontier AI. Wikipedia has a high demand for epistemic rigor, as all information must be verifiable and grounded in reliable sources. It is highly trusted as a neutral, objective source, even as it can be edited by anyone. Wikipedia articles receive many views each month and are consistently highly ranked in Google search results.
Your role
Mentees will have a high level of autonomy to set research direction and choose what articles to write or edit.
Prerequisites
- Prior experience with editing Wikipedia preferred
- Prior experience with writing about AI safety or governance
- Knowledgeable about Wikipedia policies that all editors must follow, as well as Wikipedia community norms (or you can read up on Wikipedia policies now)
- Excellent writer without LLMs (Wikipedia has banned LLM writing)
Application question(s)
Have you contributed to Wikipedia before? If so, link to your most notable contributions.
Describe the core Wikipedia policies and how you will follow them. (150 words)
Identify one or more articles you would want to create. Link to sources you would use (and not use) and why the subject follows Wikipedia's notability policy.
Link to some of your writing samples, ideally solo-authored.
About the mentor
I'm Michael Chen. I'm a DPhil Affiliate of the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative. I previously worked on the policy team at METR, where I advised AI developers on frontier safety policies. I currently serve as AI Science Advisor at the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, where I work on the implementation of AI policy like the Transparency in Frontier AI Act.