Our mission is to steer transformative technology towards benefiting life and away from extreme large-scale risks.
Our Main Approach
First, perform research to identify gaps in the landscape of efforts to fulfill our mission.
Second, determine what new organizations should exist to address these challenges.
Third, targeted headhunting to identify people to found the specific ideas we select.
Finally, provide various forms of support to ease the process of starting the new organization and increase the likelihood of success.
→ We aim to help start 3 to 5 new organizations per year.
Our Focus
We most concentrate on the risks posed by transformative AI, and governance mechanisms needed to ensure that AI is beneficial to humanity.
We also focus on biosecurity, nuclear technology, other risks to humanity’s existence or fulfillment of its potential, and the development of tools, institutions, and communities that support these efforts.
Full-Time Staff Members & Board
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President
Anthony Aguirre is the President of the Future of Life Foundation. He is also the Executive Director at the Future of Life Institute and the Faggin Presidential Professor for the Physics of Information at UC Santa Cruz. He has done research in an array of topics in theoretical cosmology, gravitation, statistical mechanics, and other fields of physics. He also has strong interest in science outreach, and has appeared in numerous science documentaries. He is a creator of the science and technology prediction platform Metaculus.com, and is co-founder and President of the Foundational Questions Institute.
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Chief Operating Officer
Josh Jacobson is the Chief Operating Officer at the Future of Life Foundation. He has worked across organizational leadership, operations, and/or research for ARC Evals, FAR AI, Anthropic, on a research grant, for the Future for Humanity Institute (EpiFor), the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, the World Bank, SocialCops, Innovations for Poverty Action, the Centre for Effective Altruism, a tech startup, and PepsiCo. Josh holds an MPA with a focus in Econometrics in International Development from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Government from Dartmouth College.
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Our team has grown! Bios for our newer team members to be added soon.
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Anthony Aguirre, bio above
Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, MIT Professor, & Author of Life 3.0 and Our Mathematical Universe
Jaan Tallinn, Co-Founder of Skype, the Future of Life Institute, and the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
Meia Chita-Tegmark, Co-Founder of the Future of Life Institute