MATS Winter 2023-24 Retrospective

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 MATS Winter 2023-24 Retrospective 

 by utilistrutil , LauraVaughan , deus_ex_maki , Christian Smith , Juan Gil , Henry Sleight , Matthew Wearden , Ryan Kidd 11th May 2024 59 min read 28 90

 Co-Authors: @Rocket , @LauraVaughan , @McKennaFitzgerald , @Christian Smith , @Juan Gil , @Henry Sleight , @Matthew Wearden , @Ryan Kidd 

 The ML Alignment & Theory Scholars  program (MATS) is an education and research mentorship program for researchers entering the field of AI safety. This winter, we held the fifth iteration of the MATS program, in which 63 scholars received mentorship from 20 research mentors. In this post, we motivate and explain the elements of the program, evaluate our impact, and identify areas for improving future programs.

 Summary 

 Key details about the Winter Program:

 The four main changes we made after our Summer program were: Reducing our scholar stipend from $40/h to $30/h based on alumni feedback;
 Transitioning Scholar Support  to Research Management ;
 Using the full Lighthaven campus for office space as well as housing;
 Replacing Alignment 201  with AI Strategy Discussions .
 
 Educational attainment of MATS scholars: 48% of scholars were pursuing a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or PhD;
 17% of scholars had a master’s degree as their highest level of education;
 10% of scholars had a PhD.
 
 If not for MATS, scholars might have spent their counterfactual winters on the following pursuits (multiple responses allowed): Conducting independent alignment research without mentor (24%);
 Working at a non-alignment tech company (21%);
 Conducting independent alignment research with a mentor (13%);
 Taking classes (13%).
 
 Key takeaways from scholar impact evaluation:

 Scholars are highly likely to recommend MATS to a friend or colleague (average likelihood is 9.2/10 and NPS  is +74).
 Scholars rated the mentorship they received highly (average rating is 8.1/10). For 38% of scholars, mentorship was the most valuable element of MATS.
 
 Scholars are likely to recommend Research Management to future scholars (average likelihood is 7.9/10 and NPS  is +23). The median scholar valued Research Management at $1000.
 The median scholar reported accomplishing 10% more at MATS because of Research Management and gaining 10 productive hours.
 
 The median scholar made 5 professional connections and found 5 potential future collaborators during MATS.
 The average scholar self-assessed their improvement on the depth of their technical skills by +1.53/10, their breadth of knowledge by +1.93/10, their research taste by +1.35/10, and their theory of change construction by +1.25/10.
 According to mentors, of the 56 scholars evaluated, 77% could achieve a “First-author paper at t

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