Burnout and depression in AI safety usually don’t happen because of overwork.

From what I've seen, it usually comes from a lack of hope.

Working on something you don’t think will work and if it doesn’t work, you’ll die? That's a recipe for misery.

How do you fix AI safety hopelessness?

First off, rationally assess the likelihood of your work actually helping with AI safety.

If you rationally believe that it's too unlikely to actually help with AI safety, well, then, stop working on it!

In this case, your feelings are an important signal to listen to.

Now, if you think your work is high expected value but the likelihood of payoff is low, it's quite common to find this dispiriting.

Humans were not evolved to be motivated by expected value calculations.

Here are some different ways to get different parts of your brain on board with a high risk high reward strategy:

Pick a strategy that you enjoy the process of. Then, even if it doesn’t work. . . at least you had a good time!

If you’re only working for the outcome and the outcome looks bleak, that's very demotivating. If you’re working for the outcome and [...]

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Outline:

(00:38) How do you fix AI safety hopelessness?

(01:18) Pick a strategy that you enjoy the process of. Then, even if it doesn't work. . . at least you had a good time!

(01:39) Understanding the cause of your unhappiness can help you avoid certain strategies that are unlikely to work

(02:33) Ask yourself: do you feel hopeless about other things too? Or is it specific to Al safety?

(03:08) Look at the timeline of the hopelessness and your mental health.

(03:34) Set aside time each day to focus on visualizing the scenarios where your plan does work.

(04:19) Surround yourself with people who are hopeful.

(05:07) Consume inspirational biographies/biopics.

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First published:
December 26th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Atgb5wcHQT7fHzbS6/burnout-depression-and-ai-safety-some-concrete-strategies

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“Burnout, depression, and AI safety: some concrete strategies” by KatWoods

LessWrong (30+ Karma)