Technical Governance Researcher

The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) is a nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, focused on reducing existential risks from the transition to smarter-than-human AI. We've historically been very focused on technical alignment research. Since summer 2023, we have shifted our focus towards communication and AI governance. See our strategy update post for more details.

We are looking to build a dynamic and versatile team that can quickly produce a large range of research outputs for the technical governance space. Please feel free to fill out this form, or contact us at [email protected].
We focus on researching and designing technical aspects of regulations and policy that could lead to safe AI. The team works on:

• Inputs into regulations, requests for comments by policy bodies (e.g. NIST/US CAISI, EU, UN)

• Technical research to improve international coordination

• Limitations of current AI safety proposals and policies

• Communicating with and consulting for policymakers and governance organizations

Our previous publications are available on our website if you would like to read them. See our research agenda for the kinds of future projects we are excited about.

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

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.

• 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.