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Our largest funding was through The Audacious Project -- you can see an announcement here: https://metr.org/blog/2024-10-09-new-support-through-the-audacious-pr

by narush 1y ago

Our largest funding was through The Audacious Project -- you can see an announcement here: https://metr.org/blog/2024-10-09-new-support-through-the-audacious-project/ https://metr.org/blog/2024-10-09-new-support-through-the-aud... Per our website, “To date, April 2025, we have not accepted compensation from AI companies for the evaluations we have conducted.” You can check out the footnote on this page: https://metr.org/donate https://metr.org/donate

iLoveOncall 1y ago
This is really disingenuous when you also say that OpenAI and Anthropic have provided you with access and compute credits (on https://metr.org/about https://metr.org/about). Not all payment is cash. Compute credits is still by all means compensation.
- rsynnott 1y ago
  While it would be an ethical concern if they _hadn't_ disclosed it, it's not compensation; it was used _as part of the study_.
- gtsop 1y ago
  Are you willing to be compensated with compute credits for your job? Such companies spit out "credits" all over the place in order to gain traction and enstablish themselves. I remember when cloud providers gave vps credits to startups like they were peanuts. To me, it really means absolutelly nothing.
  - bawolff 1y ago
    I wouldn't do my job for $10, but if somehow someone did pay me $10 to do something, i wouldn't claim i wasn't compensated. In-kind compensation is still compensation.
  - iLoveOncall 1y ago
    > Are you willing to be compensated with compute credits for your job? Well, yes? I use compute for some personal projects so I would be absolutely fine if a part of my compensation was in compute credits. As a company, even more so.
- dolebirchwood 1y ago
  Is it "really" disingenuous, or is it just a misinterpretation of what it means to be "compensated for"? Seems more like quibbling to me.
  - iLoveOncall 1y ago
    I was actually being kind by saying it's disingenuous. I think it's an outright lie.
- golly_ned 1y ago
  Those are compute credits that are directly spent on the experiment itself. It's no more "compensation" than a chemistry researcher being "compensated" with test tubes.
  - iLoveOncall 1y ago
    > Those are compute credits that are directly spent on the experiment itself. You're extrapolating, it's not saying this anywhere. > It's no more "compensation" than a chemistry researcher being "compensated" with test tubes. Yes, that's compensation too. Thanks for contributing another example. Here's another one: it's no more compensation than a software engineer being compensated with a new computer. Actually the situation here is way worse than your example. Unless the chemistry researcher is commissioned by Big Test Tube Corp. to conduct research on the outcome of using their test tubes, there's no conflict of interest here. But there is an obvious conflict of interest on AI research being financed by credits given by AI companies to use their own AI tools.

by narush 1y ago

iLoveOncall 1y ago

This is really disingenuous when you also say that OpenAI and Anthropic have provided you with access and compute credits (on https://metr.org/about https://metr.org/about). Not all payment is cash. Compute credits is still by all means compensation.

rsynnott 1y ago
While it would be an ethical concern if they _hadn't_ disclosed it, it's not compensation; it was used _as part of the study_.
gtsop 1y ago
Are you willing to be compensated with compute credits for your job? Such companies spit out "credits" all over the place in order to gain traction and enstablish themselves. I remember when cloud providers gave vps credits to startups like they were peanuts. To me, it really means absolutelly nothing.
- bawolff 1y ago
  I wouldn't do my job for $10, but if somehow someone did pay me $10 to do something, i wouldn't claim i wasn't compensated. In-kind compensation is still compensation.
- iLoveOncall 1y ago
  > Are you willing to be compensated with compute credits for your job? Well, yes? I use compute for some personal projects so I would be absolutely fine if a part of my compensation was in compute credits. As a company, even more so.
dolebirchwood 1y ago
Is it "really" disingenuous, or is it just a misinterpretation of what it means to be "compensated for"? Seems more like quibbling to me.
- iLoveOncall 1y ago
  I was actually being kind by saying it's disingenuous. I think it's an outright lie.
golly_ned 1y ago
Those are compute credits that are directly spent on the experiment itself. It's no more "compensation" than a chemistry researcher being "compensated" with test tubes.
- iLoveOncall 1y ago
  > Those are compute credits that are directly spent on the experiment itself. You're extrapolating, it's not saying this anywhere. > It's no more "compensation" than a chemistry researcher being "compensated" with test tubes. Yes, that's compensation too. Thanks for contributing another example. Here's another one: it's no more compensation than a software engineer being compensated with a new computer. Actually the situation here is way worse than your example. Unless the chemistry researcher is commissioned by Big Test Tube Corp. to conduct research on the outcome of using their test tubes, there's no conflict of interest here. But there is an obvious conflict of interest on AI research being financed by credits given by AI companies to use their own AI tools.