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The first AFFINE seminar,
April–May 2026
The first AFFINE Superintelligence Alignment Seminar ran from 28 April to 28 May 2026 at Hostačov Château in Czechia. The organisers’ full retrospective is on LessWrong.
When
28 April – 28 May 2026
Where
Hostačov Château, Czechia
Participants
30, mostly STEM backgrounds
Mentors
19, on site and remote
From the retrospective
In the organisers’ words
Teaching is a forcing function for frame-refactoring, and we believe it is one of the most critical activities for what we are trying to achieve.
You cannot just put people in an ostensibly educational environment and tell them that they will not be judged on output.
The single most valuable activity: standing around a whiteboard and thinking.
A theory seminar is a great place for governance people to be.
Exit survey
What participants told us afterwards
9.1
out of 10: how strongly they would recommend AFFINE to someone like them
8.6
out of 10: how much the month changed their model of the alignment problem
8.1
out of 10: effect on their mental state
8.0
out of 10: expected effect on their long-term productivity
7.3
people from the seminar each participant was still in contact with, one month later
Self-reported, averaged across respondents. Full write-up in the LessWrong post.
In their words
What participants say
AFFINE was the best month of intellectual exploration I have had the opportunity to engage in, ever. … At AFFINE I had time to wander towards and through interesting ideas.
Legitimately one of the best times of my life. Wonderful people. Fantastic support. Exactly what I needed right now to learn more and lean into helping humanity as much as I can in a sustainable and thoughtful way.
AFFINE is the best attempt I know of at toeing the line between enabling curiosity-driven exploration, and keeping people's focus on 'the hard parts of the alignment problem'.
Next time
What we are changing
- Less scheduling. Fewer fixed activities, more open whiteboard time.
- A point-of-contact mentor for everyone. Still access to all mentors, plus one person who checks in on you.
- A clearer mission statement and curriculum. Said out loud from day one.
- A fellowship and a possible research retreat. So the thinking can keep going after the month ends.