Strong background in AI Safety and governance, with relevant experience in compute governance or AI policy.
Experience writing legislation, white papers or engaging with policymakers on AI-related topics.
Demonstrated ability to conduct AI safety research across empirical, theory, and conceptual approaches.
Bonus: Experience with frontier AI models or empirical benchmarking of AI technologies.
Effective at self-motivated task completion and proactive problem-solving.
Responsibilities
Conduct threat modeling to analyze potential AI risks and preventive measures.
Respond to Requests for Comments from government agencies on AI policy.
Research risk management practices in various industries to inform AI governance.
Design and implement evaluations of AI models to highlight policy limitations.
Prepare and present briefings to policymakers about AI evaluations and risks.
Write reports analyzing AI policy documents and proposing improvements.
Develop new policies and standards to address existing gaps in AI governance.
Benefits
Comprehensive health insurance plans, including dental and vision coverage.
Flexible vacation policy allows staff to take time off as needed with manager coordination.
Potential visa sponsorship for exceptional candidates.
Full Job Description
About the Role
In this role, you would have the chance to work on all of the above areas. The work will be a mixture of researching, writing (for internal and external use), and engaging with collaborators and policymakers. Most of the day-to-day work is a combination of reading, writing, and meetings. Some example activities could include:
Threat modeling, working out how AI systems could cause large-scale harm, and hopefully what actions could be taken to prevent this
Responding to a US government agency's Request for Comment
Learning about risk management practices in other industries, and applying these to AI
Designing and implementing evaluations of AI models, for example to demonstrate failure modes with current policy
Preparing and presenting informative briefings to policymakers, such as explaining the basics and current state of AI evaluations
Reading a government or AI developer's AI policy document, and writing a report on its limitations
Designing new AI policies and standards which address the limitations of current approaches
In the above work, maintain particular focus on what is needed for solutions to scale to smarter-than-human intelligence and conduct research on which new challenges may emerge at that stage
Who We're Looking For
There are no formal degree requirements to work on the team, however we are especially excited about applicants who have a strong background in AI Safety and have particular previous experience or familiarity working in (or as) one or more of:
Compute governance. Technical knowledge of AI hardware / chips manufacturing and related governance proposals.
Policy (including AI policy). Experience here could involve writing legislation or white papers, engaging with policy makers or other research in AI policy and governance
Strong AI Safety generalist. For example, you have produced good AI safety research and have a good overview-level understanding of empirical, theory and conceptual approaches, or otherwise have a demonstrated ability to think clearly and carefully about AI safety.
Bonus: Research or engineering focused on frontier AI models or the AI tech stack. The role may involve creating or running model evaluations, benchmarking AI hardware, conducting scaling law experiments, and other empirical work.
We are also excited about candidates who are particularly strong in the following areas:
Agency - You get things done without someone constantly looking over your shoulder. You notice problems and are motivated to fix them. You focus on solving the problem, not waiting to be told what to do. You know when to defer to another's decision, and when to ask for guidance. You are an active member of the team, not a mindless cog in the machine.
Conscientiousness - You are diligent and hard-working, and complete your work reliably and dependably. You desire to do tasks well and effectively. You pay attention to details and are organized, and able to manage lots of small tasks and projects.
Comfort learning on the job - You enjoy and are able to quickly acquire new skills and knowledge as needed. You feel comfortable working on underspecified tasks where part of your job is to further develop the research questions appropriately.
Generative thinking - You enjoy coming up with and iterating on new ideas. You can generate original work as well as extend others' thoughts. You aren't afraid to suggest things, or point out flaws in your or others' thoughts.
Communication (Internal) - You are a team player who is excited to work together with others and willing to attend several weekly meetings. You proactively keep teammates/manager in the loop about the status of projects you manage, when things are falling behind, when you need more information. You voice your confusions.
Communication (External) - You are able to communicate effectively to external stakeholders who have a range of technical expertise, including policymakers. You can produce concise, clear, and compelling writing, and deliver presentations on the team's research and ideas.
In addition, we are looking for candidates who:
Are broadly aligned with MIRI's values and willing to work toward MIRI's goals (i.e., the world needs to build an Off Switch for AI), and the Technical Governance Team's research directions (e.g., those described in our research agenda)
Are passionate about MIRI's mission and excited to support our work in reducing existential risks from AI.
Logistics
Application deadline - No current deadline, we will evaluate applications as they come in.
Location - Prefer in-office (in Berkeley, CA).
Compensation - $120-200k.
The range is due to the wide possibility space of experience and skills that candidates may bring.
We strive to ensure that all staff are paid an appropriate and comfortable living wage such that they feel fairly compensated and are able to focus on doing great work.
Benefits - MIRI offers a variety of benefits including:
Health insurance (the best available plans from Kaiser and Blue Shield) as well as dental and vision coverage. (We cannot always offer comparable benefits to international staff.)
"No vacation policy" - staff are encouraged to take vacation when they want/need to in coordination with their manager.
Visas - We can potentially sponsor visas for particularly promising candidates.
