Prioritise writing and sharing

How to write well

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The biggest mistake people make is treating the write-up as an afterthought. Your work won't advance AI safety if no one engages with it.

**Plan to spend at least one full day writing this up.** More if you’re proud of what you’ve produced. 

This includes the different forms of write-ups – your longer-form blog and the Twitter/X or LinkedIn post that helps with distribution. 

As a [rule of thumb](https://arc.net/l/quote/crorikxf), you should allocate your writing time proportional to how much total reading time each format will receive. Writing a viral thread deserves as much effort as writing a detailed post.

## **But why?**
Your write-up is how you get feedback and find a home for your work. It’s also how others gauge how well you know your stuff and how much you've thought it through. 

Many of our past graduates have found their co-founders, collaborators, roles and funding opportunities from posting their projects. 

You might be thinking: “I can write it up much faster than that” or “I’d rather spend time working on the project”. But if you want your work to reach people, it’s worth communicating well.

Writing clearly demonstrates your understanding. You can't write clearly about something you don't fully get. 

Think about explaining your own codebase to a new hire. If you're fumbling through the explanation, you probably don't understand the architecture as well as you thought. Clear communication is an indicator of understanding, and it takes work to achieve.


**Explain why it matters.** Motivate why you did this and why anyone should care. People are more likely to read your work (and remember it) when they understand the why.

**Lead with what you did.** Don't bury your insights in [walls of text](https://postimg.cc/WtzSPc3d) or unnecessary jargon. State it clearly upfront.

**Keep it simple.** The goal is for people to actually read and understand what you've done. This is not easy. Writing something short and clear is much harder than rambling on. 

**Start with a headline.** Include what it's about, who it's for, and why they should read it. Everything else flows from this.

**Bullet your core points first.** Only perfect the prose once you know what you're saying.

**Get feedback constantly.** Good writing requires iteration. Explain your project to others as you work on it. See if they understand or find it compelling. If not, workshop your idea or delivery.

Don't wait until the eleventh hour. Many AI safety researchers like[ Neel Nanda](https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/jP9KDyMkchuv6tHwm/how-to-become-a-mechanistic-interpretability-researcher#Write_up_your_work_) have highlighted how important this is. Start early and keep refining as you go.


I know it feels scary to stake your name publicly on what you've done. But here's the thing: **your work is far more likely to get drowned out in the noise than criticised.** You have to put in a LOT of work to be seen (there’s a whole industry around marketing!). And being seen is exactly what you want.

Much of the AI safety research community is on Twitter/X, so focus on making a thread and posting on LessWrong and the Alignment Forum. Whether it is you’re making a research or engineering contribution, both are valuable!

Here’s the recommended order of priority for things to publish:
1. Blog post (Substack works well)
2. GitHub repo people can easily run (star it!)
3. Twitter/X thread 
4. LessWrong post
5. LinkedIn post

We’re excited to see what you’ve built, so make sure to tag @BlueDotImpact on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/bluedotimpact) or [Twitter](https://x.com/BlueDotImpact)!


You'll share this link during your discussion to get feedback before you publish. 


Technical AI Safety Project

Prioritise writing and sharing