AI Safety Hire Attends Standup From Unconnected Laptop In Parking Lot

Alexis Chen, a machine learning safety researcher hired last month by a major AI lab as senior auditor, has begun her role by joining daily team standups via a laptop that has no connection to the lab's network, located in a section of the parking structure behind Building C. Chen, thirty-two, was brought on to review model training processes and flag potential harms before deployment, according to her offer letter. She attends meetings remotely from a 2019 Honda Civic parked in space 247, where she receives calendar invites forwarded to her personal email account by a contractor in the office operations department.

I have access to a calendar invite, which is something.

"I have access to a calendar invite, which is something," Chen said during Tuesday's standup, her voice audible through the meeting link but her camera disconnected. The team acknowledged her presence by typing her name in the chat. When asked what audits she was planning to prioritize, Chen explained that she was working from documentation provided by another contractor, a former intern who had compiled a thirty-four-page PDF overview of the training pipeline in August of the previous year. "I am reading that document right now," she said.

A spokesperson for the lab declined to characterize the arrangement as irregular, noting that it was consistent with the company's commitment to safety governance. "Alexis has a seat at the table," the spokesperson said, referring to the folding chair Chen had positioned on the hood of her vehicle. The company began hiring safety researchers in early last month following pressure from investors and media coverage suggesting the lab lacked adequate oversight. The spokesperson added that Chen would receive access to systems once she completed a security training module, which had been submitted to the office operations contractor on the ninth of last month and was now being reviewed by another department.

At press time, Chen had been invited to a closed-door meeting with the lab's chief research officer to discuss her findings so far. The meeting is scheduled for next Thursday at two in the afternoon in a conference room that Chen is not authorized to enter, and the invitation specified that she should phone in from the parking lot as usual.