Published on August 1, 2025 5:03 PM GMT

Steve Petersen is looking for 12k (per semester) for a course buy-out, so that he can spend more time on work related to AI Safety. This isn't very much money, in the grand scheme, although it is a lot to ask most individuals to donate. I consider him a friend, so perhaps I am biased; however, I find collaboration with him to be valuable, and I hope that he can raise the money so that he can spend more time on research. I consider him to be an important bridge between academic philosophy and AI safety. He has work in algorithmic information theory, establishing an important theory of abstraction, which is a central concern of several AI safety research agendas (John Wentworth and Sam Eisenstat come to mind). This demonstrates his technical chops & ability to craft deep theories.