Pause House, Blackpool

Working toward getting a global moratorium on AGI development

Are you passionate about pushing for a global halt to AGI development? An international treaty banning superintelligent AI? Pausing AI? Before it’s too late to prevent human extinction?

Would you like to live with a group of like-minded people pushing for the same?

Do you want to do much more, but don’t have the financial means to support yourself volunteering?

Then apply to stay at Pause House. I (Greg Colbourn), am offering free accommodation, (vegan) food, and a small stipend for those who need it (£50/week). In exchange I ask for a commitment to spending at least 20 hrs a week on work related to pushing for a Pause. This could be either campaigning/advocacy, or raising public awareness.

If you have an income, then I ask that you pay ~cost price (£20/day).

Pause House is located in Blackpool, UK, next door to CEEALAR (which I founded in 2018); 1hr from Manchester, 3.5hrs from London. It has a large communal work/social/events room, dining room, well equipped kitchen, toilet, laundry and small courtyard downstairs. And a meeting room and 12 bedrooms in the upper floors, 4 with en suite bathrooms (first come, first served!). The other 8 bedrooms all have sinks in them, and the use of 2 shared showers and 2 shared toilets. Here are some pictures:

Work/social/events room

Dining room

Kitchen

Free basic vegan food (we can get some more fresh stuff when there are more people)

Laundry and downstairs toilet

The back yard (could do with a few plants and some seating), and hallway

One of the smaller bedrooms (there are 8 ~this size); I’ve been staying in this one recently when in Blackpool

Shared shower and toilet (there are 2 of each of these on the first floor)

One of the larger, en-suite rooms (a mattress, and better desk and chair will be provided)

En-suite bathroom (there are 4 rooms with en-suites like this one)

Views out the windows

Blackpool beach, <5 mins walk away

What you could do whilst living at Pause House

If you’re not sure where to start, here is a list of things you could potentially do whilst at Pause House:

Online:

- Take part in, and post about, already existing campaigns by groups like PauseAI, Control AI, FLI, MIRI etc;

- Write to/call politicians and other prominent people (journalists, media, influencers) and groups (unions, universities, activist groups, places of worship), with view to setting up meetings to brief them on AI Risk;

- Organise online meetups (e.g. virtual pub socials);

- Post on social media about AI Risk - X, Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook etc

- Reply to relevant social media posts and news articles advocating for a Pause / AI Risk to be taken seriously;

- Clip choice quotes from videos/podcasts to share on social media (video clips, images with text (e.g. speech bubbles), audio, text);

- Help curate resources like those compiled on the lethalintelligence.org website;

- Write blog posts (post on Substack, X, LinkedIn);

- Make animated videos illustrating AI Risk concepts / stories / blog posts / podcast clips;

- fundraise for PauseAI and other orgs in the space;

Offline:

- Talk to people/hand out flyers on the Promenade/beach/in town in Blackpool (or Manchester, or Liverpool) about AI Risk (Pause House is in central Blackpool, a couple of minutes from the beach);

- Set up regular local meetings aimed at political action on AI Risk;

- Have meetings with politicians/prominent people, after setting them up (see above);

- Host in person meetings and events at Pause House to strategise and coordinate with others in the movement.

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