In Brief
The Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI) has relaunched as a nonprofit organisation. We announced these plans and the background behind the update in an earlier forum post.
Our mission remains the same: We are building a global research community, dedicated to helping humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. Our core research activities will also remain largely the same. However, owing to the greater flexibility afforded by our new nonprofit structure, we will also be expanding our field-building activities.
You can see our new website for more detailed descriptions of our mission and history, research, team, events, governance structure and approach to conflicts of interest, and opportunities for involvement. We are currently hiring for Chief of Staff and Research Fellow roles and accepting applications to our Summer Fellowship program.
Our Activities
We will maintain our core activities of producing, supervising, and coordinating research; running a twice-annual fellowship program for junior AI governance researchers; hosting both internal research seminars and a public seminar series; advising decision-makers; and offering career advice, connections, and informal mentoring to promising people entering the field. In the coming year, we will also host our inaugural AI governance conference, begin awarding student research prizes, and explore an expansion of our policy-advising work.
Over approximately the next two years, we are planning to experiment and learn more about how we can provide the most value in our current form. We may adjust or halt current or planned activities if we are not sufficiently convinced of their impact. We may also trial additional activities such as grantmaking and scholarship programs or a program reminiscent of the Forethought Fellows program.
Our Structure and Team
We are based in Oxford, in the same building as the Future of Humanity Institute, Global Priorities Institute, and Centre for Effective Altruism, with a global network of collaborators and affiliates spread across several institutions. See here for a description of our governance structure.
Our Acting Director, Ben Garfinkel, leads the organization. Ben is a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute and the head of its AI Governance Team. He has been involved with GovAI and its predecessor organizations for five years: he was a founding member of the Yale University research group that evolved into GovAI.
Our President, Allan Dafoe, advises the organization and collaborates on research projects. Allan is also the founder and previous Director of GovAI. He currently heads DeepMind’s Long-Term AI Strategy and Governance Team.
The rest of the core team consists of:
- Markus Anderljung, as Head of Policy and Research Fellow.
- Joslyn Barnhart, as Applied Research Lead.
- Alexis Carlier, as Head of Strategy.
- Noemi Dreksler, as Survey Researcher.
- Anton Korinek, as Economics of AI Lead.
- Anne le Roux, as Operations Manager.
- Robert Trager, as Strategic Modelling Team Lead.
- Eoghan Stafford, as Strategic Modelling Researcher.
Toby Shevlane will also soon join the team as a Research Fellow.
Our Advisory Board consists of Ajeya Cotra, Allan Dafoe, Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, and Toby Ord.
Our broader affiliate community consists of Miles Brundage, Tantum Collins, Diane Cooke, Jeffrey Ding, Sophie-Charlotte Fischer, Carrick Flynn, Ulrike Franke, Hiski Haukkala, William Isaac, Jade Leung, Cullen O’Keefe, Jonas Schuett, Stefan Torges, Andrew Trask, Brian Tse, Waqar Zaidi, Baobao Zhang, and Remco Zwetsloot.
Opportunities
We are also currently accepting applications for two roles: Chief of Staff and Research Fellow.
The Chief of Staff would serve as the “central node” within GovAI, reporting only to the Director. A range of crucial responsibilities, most of which currently sit with the Director, would be delegated to the Chief of Staff. We believe that the right candidate could significantly increase the organization’s long-run impact and ability to expand its activities.
Research Fellows will be expected to produce research that bears on important problems and open questions in AI governance. We are interested in candidates from a range of disciplines, who have a demonstrated ability to produce excellent research and care deeply about the long-run impacts of AI. The role would offer significant research freedom, access to a broad network of experts, and opportunities for collaboration.
We are also currently accepting applications for our Summer Fellowship Program. This program provides an opportunity for early-career individuals to spend three months working on an AI governance research project, learning about the field, and exploring different ways to contribute.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Open Philanthropy, the Centre for Emerging Risk Research, and Effective Altruism Funds for financial support; to the Centre for Effective Altruism for providing us with temporary fiscal sponsorship; to the Future of Humanity Institute and the University of Oxford for having provided an excellent initial home; and to the countless individuals who have supported or been part of GovAI over the years.
