Policy Team (Multiple Roles)

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is seeking to fill multiple roles on our US Policy Team. Team members will report to the Director of U.S. Policy.

FLI works to reduce catastrophic risks from transformative technologies and to develop optimistic yet realistic visions of the future.  Our US Policy Team advocates for the adoption of forward-thinking AI policy at the state and federal levels.

As a member of our US Policy Team, you will:

• Raise awareness among key federal and state policymakers about the importance of AI safety and appropriate policies to mitigate catastrophic risks from AI

• Develop informational materials and conduct educational briefings to explain complex AI policy issues to non-expert audiences

• Monitor, analyze, and respond to developments in AI and emerging technology policy as appropriate

• Maintain and nurture relationships with key stakeholders across civil society, academia, industry, and government

• Identify high-impact opportunities to drive meaningful policy change 

• Craft policies that maximize the benefits of emerging technologies while minimizing their risks

• Support and collaborate with fellow US Policy Team members and others across FLI to achieve organizational objectives

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Undergraduate degree in policy, law, or a technical field related to emerging technologies

• Two or more years of relevant work experience. More senior candidates are encouraged to apply, as we are hiring at multiple seniority levels

• US location (or willingness to relocate) 

• Strong self-direction, proactivity, and work ethic 

• Comfortable working remotely and independently a significant portion of the time

• Proven ability to plan, prepare for, and conduct efficient meetings with key stakeholders across civil society, academia, industry, and government

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, including the ability communicate complex information to non-expert audiences

• Excellent interpersonal skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Direct experience working for or advocating to legislatures and high-level civil servants at the state or federal level 

• DC experience and location (at least one hire will be DC based,) especially Congressional experience

• Experience in key state legislatures, including Washington, Colorado, and New York.

• Advanced knowledge of the policy making process, including legislative procedures and opportunities for intervention

• Understanding of the technical capabilities and limitations of AI systems

$75,000 - $190,000 a year

Compensation will vary depending on experience and geography. We are hiring at multiple seniority levels.

Additional benefits include 24 days of vacation per year, health insurance, paid parental leave, and a work from home allowance for the purchase of office supplies or equipment. 

Application Deadline: September 8, 2024. Rolling applications may be considered after the application deadline if the position has not been filled.

Start Date: We'd like the chosen candidate to start as soon as possible after accepting an offer.

Application Process: Apply by uploading your resume and optional cover letter, alongside an answer to the following question in no more than 250 words:

What change to policy in the United States that can be made in the coming year is most critical to reducing risk from advanced AI?

FLI aims to be an inclusive organization. We proactively seek job applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. If you are passionate about FLI’s mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even though you may not check all the boxes, please still apply. We would appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

Questions may be directed to jobsadmin@futureoflife.org.

About the Future of Life Institute

Founded in 2014, FLI is an independent non-profit working to steer transformative technology towards benefitting life and away from extreme large-scale risks. Our work includes grantmaking, educational outreach, and policy engagement.

Our work has been featured in The Washington Post, Politico, Vox, Forbes, The Guardian, the BBC, and Wired.

Some of our achievements include:

- Pause Giant AI Experiments, an open letter calling for a 6 month pause on the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. The letter has been signed by more than 30,000 people, including Yoshua Bengio, Stuart Russell, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Yuval Noah Harari, and Andrew Yang.

- The Asilomar AI Principles, one of the earliest and most influential sets of AI governance principles.

- Testimony to the US Senate AI Insight Forum on Innovation, and the first civil society presentation to the US House of Representatives Taskforce on AI, encouraging policies that mitigate catastrophic risks from AI.

- Participation in the US AI Safety Institute Consortium.

- Slaughterbots, a viral video campaign raising awareness about the dangers of lethal autonomous weapons.

- The Future of Life Award, which retrospectively awards unsung heroes who made the world a better place. Past winners include individuals who prevented nuclear wars, helped to eradicate smallpox, and solved the ozone crisis.

- Worldbuild.ai, which imagines flourishing futures with strong AI and works out how to get there.

FLI is a largely virtual organization, with a team of 20 distributed across Europe and the US. We have offices in Campbell, California and in Brussels, Belgium, and meet in person as a full team twice a year.