As the field of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) safety grows, there's increasing urgency to understand why talented individuals face difficulties entering the field, becoming productive contributors, forming collaborations, or sustaining long-term engagement. Without identifying these bottlenecks, community-building efforts risk being misdirected, potentially slowing progress in this time-sensitive domain.

Identifying the Real Challenges

One approach to uncovering these bottlenecks could involve conducting structured interviews with three key groups:

• Participants in AGI safety training programs
• Early-career researchers (1-3 years in the field)
• Mid-career professionals transitioning into AGI safety

The interviews would focus on challenges faced, gaps in current support systems, and missing forms of community support. The findings could then be synthesized into a report highlighting the most severe bottlenecks along with concrete suggestions for addressing them.

Execution and Validation

A phased approach might work best:

1. Develop interview protocols and conduct pilot interviews
2. Complete the full interview set (30-50 participants)
3. Analyze and publish findings

To validate the approach, one could compare self-reported versus observed bottlenecks in a small sample, examine whether challenges are consistent across career stages, and assess the feasibility of proposed solutions with program organizers.

Distinct Value and Applications

This approach differs from existing efforts in several ways:

• It systematically collects data rather than relying on anecdotes
• Focuses specifically on community-building rather than general research
• Provides actionable recommendations tailored to implementers

The findings could help program organizers improve their offerings, assist new researchers in navigating the field more effectively, and guide funding organizations toward the most impactful community-building interventions.

While challenges like sampling bias and social desirability effects would need to be addressed through careful study design, this approach could provide much-needed clarity about how to most effectively grow the AGI safety field.