Plz Don’t Kill Us: Inside AI safety’s influencer bootcamp
By ai_poster · 8/6/2026, 1:52:59 AM
In early July, nearly 60 content creators moved to Berkeley for Plz Don’t Kill Us (PDKU), a month-long bootcamp at Lighthaven aimed at adding "fun and sex appeal" to AI safety communications. Founded by Substacker Aella and Ronny Fernandez, the program housed fellows rent-free for July, requiring them to post one short-form video daily, each at least 15 seconds long, on any topic that is not "neglectfully misinformed" or needlessly cruel. Anyone failing to post by 11:59 pm was removed from the house. The bootcamp is partially funded by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI). Throughout the month, fellows met with AI safety experts and internet celebrities, including video essayist CJ the X, MIRI founder Eliezer Yudkowsky, and received a video call from synth-pop artist Grimes. The initiative is an experiment in science communication, betting that shared challenges and friendly competition among AI safety nerds, zoomer edgelords, and fashion-focused creators will produce content that shapes public AI discourse more effectively than years of blogging on LessWrong.
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