[Career review] “Building the field of AI safety” by Aaron Gertler

When most people think about working on AI safety, they picture research and policy. But there's another, often overlooked path that may actually have more impact — AI safety fieldbuilders are the people who recruit, train, and connect the researchers, policymakers, and communicators who make the whole ecosystem run. Narrated by AI. ---Outline:(00:09) Summary(01:42) Recommended(01:52) Review status(03:30) What do fieldbuilders work on?(05:17) Why AI safety fieldbuilding can be highly impactful(05:23) Fieldbuilding works(07:01) AI safety needs more skilled people(09:02) The work is highly neglected(10:05) Helping others lets you multiply your impact(11:52) Potential downsides to working on fieldbuilding(12:04) Career capital may be lower(15:11) The career path isnt as clear(15:55) Technical work often pays better(16:28) Direct work can also grow capacity(17:13) How can fieldbuilding backfire?(19:25) Could you be a good fit?(19:36) Skills that will help you succeed(21:51) Promising professional backgrounds(22:57) How to get started(25:19) Find jobs in AI safety fieldbuilding(26:11) Learn more(26:14) Top recommendations(26:43) Further recommendations The original text contained 8 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: April 9th, 2026 Source: https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/ai-safety-fieldbuilding --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.