Growing BlueDot's Impact w/ Li-Lian Ang

I'm joined by my good friend, Li-Lian Ang, first hire and product manager at BlueDot Impact. We discuss how BlueDot has evolved from their original course offerings to a new "defense-in-depth" approach, which focuses on three core threat models: reduced oversight in high risk scenarios (e.g. accelerated warfare), catastrophic terrorism (e.g. rogue actors with bioweapons), and the concentration of wealth and power (e.g. supercharged surveillance states). On top of that, we cover how BlueDot's strategies account for and reduce the negative impacts of common issues in AI safety, including exclusionary tendencies, elitism, and echo chambers.

2025.09.15: Learn more about how to make design effective interventions to make AI go well and potentially even get funded for it on BlueDot Impact's AGI Strategy course! BlueDot is also hiring, so if you think you’d be a good fit, I definitely recommend applying; I had a great experience when I contracted as a course facilitator. If you do end up applying, let them know you found out about the opportunity from the podcast!

Follow Li-Lian on LinkedIn, and look at more of her work on her blog!

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(03:23) - Meeting Through the Course

(05:46) - Eating Your Own Dog Food

(13:13) - Impact Acceleration

(22:13) - Breaking Out of the AI Safety Mold

(26:06) - Bluedot’s Risk Framework

(41:38) - Dangers of "Frontier" Models

(54:06) - The Need for AI Safety Advocates

(01:00:11) - Hot Takes and Pet Peeves