Discrimination in AI safety: A call for incident reports

Published on October 25, 2026 5:08 PM GMT TL;DR  We (Frances, Sarah, and Geetha) work in AI safety and the broader EA ecosystem. We are increasingly concerned about sexual harassment, workplace harassment, and discrimination in these spaces. Through our advocacy, we have heard numerous firsthand accounts of ineffective or nonexistent reporting systems and anti-harassment policies, dismissive organisational attitudes, and harassment incidents being mishandled. We are now collecting incident reports through confidential calls, so we can make the case to funders and organisations for minimum standards on how harassment is prevented and handled. If you have an experience to share, we’d love to hear from you (please fill out this form).[1] How you can help Please share this widely: within your organisation, in relevant Slack and fellowship groups, on social media, directly with people you know, and anywhere else you’re comfortable. Our ultimate goal We will produce a list of recommendations for how organisations in the space can improve, including policies, guidance on handling conflicts of interest in complaints, resources to support victims through reporting, and standards for reporting and codes of conduct at events and co-working spaces. To make these recommendations effective, we need to understand the issues victims are facing and be able to explain the scope of the problem. We believe a collection of concrete incidents is an important first step. We plan to advocate for better baseline standards across organisations in the ecosystem by approaching funders such as Coefficient Giving, Longview Philanthropy, FLF, and SFF, and urging them to require minimum standards from their grantees. (Note: we do not have full details on each funder’s existing standards, but have been disappointed by what we do know.) We are also planning to draft an open letter to organisations in the space that professionals will have the chance to sign. We are doing this independently. We are not funded by anyone, and this project is not affiliated with any organisation, including our employers. Our ask  We’re asking people to share incidents of sexual harassment, workplace harassment, and discrimination with us. Right now, we’re particularly focussed on AI safety, but we’re also keen to hear about incidents within effective altruism more broadly. These can be firsthand accounts (something you experienced directly) or corroborated secondhand accounts (something you directly witnessed, or an incident you have evidence of). If you’re not sure whether something “counts,” please speak with us anyway. We’d love to hear from as many people as possible. How it works, plus confidentiality & anonymity  We’ll ask you to have a call with one of us to record the incident. Nothing you share will go further without your permission. We’ll work with you to decide what, if anything, we can share and how widely (e.g. you might be comfortable with it being shared within the ecosystem but not in a public post, or with naming an organisation but not yourself). You can change your mind at any time. The only exception is if you disclose an imminent threat to someone’s safety (e.g. “I have heard that [Name 1] plans to do [violent thing] to [Name 2]”), in which case we would notify [Name 2]. You’ll need to identify yourself to the person you speak with, so we can confirm that every report comes from a verified source. You can ask for your details to stay anonymous to the other two of us. (General note: If you’ve previously disclosed an incident to any of us, it will not be included in this project in any capacity by default. If you would like it included, please reach out again and let one of us know.) (Second general note: At least one other person will help us analyse and write up our findings. Anyone helping at that stage will only have access to information we’ve been given explicit permission to share.) Who should you talk to?  Any of us! Or all of us. It’s totally up to you. We know you may not feel comfortable talking to any of the three of us, so capacity permitting, we’ll try to offer one or two other people you could speak with later on. Who we are and how to contact us Please fill out this form with, at minimum, your name and email. If applicable, you can specify who you’d like to talk to. Once you submit, we’ll reach out to book a 30-minute call. The only people with access to form submissions are Sarah, Geetha, and Frances. To quickly reiterate, we are working on this project in a personal capacity and not in affiliation with our employers. All views expressed are our own. Sarah Gokhale Hello! I am the Events Lead at Coefficient Giving. Previously, I was a Recruiter also at Coefficient Giving and before that I was on the AI Events and EAG teams at the Centre for Effective Altruism. I left CEA because of how badly the org and its leaders mishandled Frances’s sexual harassment investigation. I gave a critical exit interview about this that was neve