Best Way To Start a Local Group?

Recently, as part of pulling my personal fire alarm, I applied to start a local chapter of what, I realize in hindsight, was PauseAI-US, and not PauseAI. They are apparently entirely different organizations. I did not realize this, despite having spent some time volunteering for PauseAI in the past.

To make matters worse, this morning, PauseAI unendorsed PauseAI-US. This is a confusing situation.

Now, I am in a slightly awkward position: Do I continue trying to create a PAI-US chapter (I haven't heard back yet - application was over a month ago)? Or do I create a US chapter of PauseAI? Or perhaps there is a better way to do local advocacy. If anyone has any ideas, I would be very grateful to hear them.

I am feeling activated and motivated, and right now, my energy is mostly being wasted.


In lieu of other options, I have created a local coffee meetup on EventBrite, to start building a local community of people worried about existential risk from AI.