TLDR: Belgrade AI Safety (BAIS, previously AI Safety Hub Serbia, AISHS) office, has existed for 10 months and has attracted a few different researchers in AI Safety and some interest from EA in general. We are looking for funding for the rest of 2024/2025 and project growth. We’re applying for a budget which would include paying a Project Manager 0.5 FTE to manage the promotion of the venue, review the applications, and handle courses we’re planning on launching. This would capitalize on the momentum we started and utilize the office space more.If you donate just a bit, you're buying a few extra weeks to the project, which we very much appreciate!
For questions or inquiries, please email Dušan [dusan.d.nesic at efektivnialtruizam.com] To apply for a stay, fill in this form. If your org wants to do a retreat in Serbia, please email Tanja Trninić [tanja.trninic at efektivnialtruizam.com].
In-depth:
BAIS office has existed for 10 months now, and has attracted a few different researchers in AI Safety and some interest from EA in general (see track record below). While initial work was promising, capacities are underutilized, and more effort is required to pursue further impact.
Simultaneously, Serbia has become far more engaged in AI governance (Emanuel Macron visited the AI conference in Belgrade, from 2025, Serbia is chairing the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) for the next three years). Politically, it stands at the intersection of Brussels, Washington, Moscow, and Beijing, making it a great place to develop global governance thinking. AI Safety Law Serbia (separate project) has started and is progressing well, so hopefully Serbia becomes one of the countries with saner AI policies within the next year, which then spreads through the connections mentioned above.
Thus, we are looking to expand BAIS. Firstly, we are planning to start virtual and in-person AI Safety courses by Bluedot and PIBBSS. We have arranged help from AIS Hungary with facilitation in the beginning but we have two existing members that can also run the course in person (one for the technical, one for the governance track).
Secondly, we are excited to plan Safety Spring Sprint Serbia (4S) this coming spring 2025 - a one-month series of hackathons and co-working developed together with governance researchers (we have tentative interest from APART Labs and PIBBSS researchers). This would gather about 20-30 people most excited about the project in a combination of paid and free seats at the office.
Thirdly, with enough funding we would hire a full-time project manager for BAIS to pilot the project.
Finally, we would work on partnerships for regular office space commitment. The space is enough for smaller versions of programs such as ML4Good or similar retreats, without being too remote - Belgrade is a lively city and there is plenty to do and try.
Other benefits of the project's locations come from Serbia’s visa policy, which is unique:
Visa-free 3 months per 6 months to Western countries (or holders of EU/US visa)
Unlimited (w/monthly border crossings ie, 25 EUR and 3 hours) for Chinese and Russian citizens
They have a hard time staying long in other countries.
It is also fairly easy/cheap (~500 Eur start+300 Eur/month tax) to get a residency permit/health insurance/social insurance (citizenship after 3-5 years).
This makes it a good gathering point for AIS researchers. As a founder of EA Serbia and ENAIS, I believe to have found a great venue:
Fairly central (20 minutes walk to City Square)
It fits 10-15 people (more in the coffee shop downstairs if the need arises)
Activist landlords that agree with our mission (and thus give us lower rent :) )
Renovated and adjusted to our needs (although funding for ergonomic furniture would go a long way)
1) Provide an office where people can be close to EU/UK without having problems with Visas/pay as much in living costs.
2) Have the capacity in case of future geopolitical shifts to quickly scale up office (and possibly housing) to help AIS researchers fleeing their countries. (e.g., had this office existed in 2022, it could have been a Schelling point for Russian/Ukrainian researchers while they found more permanent solutions).
3) Having office space is prestigious, and in my current networking efforts within Serbia, saying that AIS Hub Serbia was a physical space and being able to offer it to Serbian researchers has been a boon.
4) Organize local AI Safety events (AGISF, Key Phenomena in Risk, 4S) to engage talent in the local community.
5) Organizing smaller work retreats/gatherings in the office for cheap/free for small projects that benefit from frugal retreats.
6) Office doubles as meeting/working space for EA Serbia members while capacity is not full. This is a side goal and would be phased out if the office was at capacity.
Minimum funding raised here goes directly to rents and utilities and nothing else. Currently, the necessary labor of selecting people/maintaining the office/negotiate with landlords is done by me on a voluntary basis, but as the project is growing, I want to outsource that to a project manager.
Our main project manager is Tatiana Skuratova, Co-founder of EA Serbia and Recruitment Lead at Impact Ops, a leading operations agency within the Effective Altruism community. Tatiana has over 7 years of diverse professional experience spanning recruitment, HR practices, business development, marketing, and operations. She has successfully built and led various communities, including student councils and Rotary clubs.
Her expertise lies in scaling organizations, placing top talent, and implementing HR solutions across different markets, particularly in the APAC and EMEA regions. Tatiana excels in strategic recruitment and operational management, having worked in industries ranging from tech to social enterprises. With a strong background in international relations and cross-cultural communication, she brings a global perspective to her work, always focusing on aligning talent with impactful projects.
Our advisor is Dušan D. Nešić, (LinkedIn) founder of EA Serbia and ENAIS, Ops Lead at PIBBSS. I have built communities such as student councils and clubs, as well as professional organizations and academic gatherings for ~12 years, and since this project is fairly low-key, I think this is enough expertise for now. I would like to gather a board of trustees to decide on applicants, but the flow currently does not require such a level of governance, yet.
Tanja Trninic, EA Serbia Community Builder, is also helping with the office space in her free time. She speaks Chinese, English, and Serbian fluently and has been an activist for almost 20 years in different movements and in EA for the past 2.
In the past 10 months we have hosted guests from Timaeus, PIBBSS, ARB research, and in fall we are home to the group retreat for Impact Ops. So far everyone praised the convenience of Serbian visa and the liveliness and cuisine available in the city. Complaints before were about the place looking so-so, which we have fixed through some decorations, although we'd ideally buy better ergonomic equipment with sufficient funds. We also did not have an AC until this summer, so the temperature was less than ideal until recently. We also have a researcher working from the office most days, and it is used for EA Serbia events several times per month.
The only extreme failure scenario is one of geopolitical turmoil capturing Serbia while we have many guests visiting, but the combined probabilities of that are sufficiently low.
Office space not being used by tenants is the most probable failure, but as it is quite cheap, not too much has been lost. I believe the project is still worthwhile based on the value of having a flexible capacity to accept researchers from Russia/China/other countries outside of EU/US/UK. Additionally, even if not many tenants are present, Goal #3 is still achieved, and so far I have found it useful.
We will also apply to EAIF and Meta-Funders, nothing confirmed as of yet.
Individuals, please apply at this link! :)
If your org wants to do a retreat in Serbia, please email Tanja Trninić.
App status across various funders