The posting
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is looking to expand our US policy team to help with our policy work and US government engagement to promote the safe governance of AI through a bipartisan lens. As we are always looking for strong talent for the US policy team, we are hiring new team members on a rolling basis. The US Policy Team Members will report directly to the Head of US Policy.
Who we are
FLI educates and engages lawmakers, key stakeholders, and the general public about transformative technologies and their implications. We advocate for policies and approaches that mitigate catastrophic risks while advancing positive futures for humanity.
As US Policy Team Member, you will:
- Spend a significant amount of your time on the Hill. You will build networks and raise awareness among influential policymakers of both parties of the importance of AI safety and the appropriate policies to reduce catastrophic risks from AI.
- Help develop and implement FLI's strategies for effective AI governance.
- Track, analyze, and respond as appropriate to developments in both AI and emerging technology policy developments.
- Develop informational materials and conduct educational briefings to explain complex issues in AI policy to non-experts.
- Identify high-impact opportunities to affect meaningful policy change toward realizing the benefits of emerging technology and minimizing its risks.
Required Qualifications:
- Direct experience working for or advocating to legislators and government officials at the federal level. Particular interest in candidates with congressional experience.
- Eligibility to work in the United States, based in Washington DC (or willing to relocate to DC).
Required Skills and Qualities:
- Excited by the prospect of joining a small but influential team looking to improve humanity’s future.
- You're someone who would find jumping between meetings on the Hill all day energising rather than exhausting.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability communicate complex information to non-expert audiences.
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build trusting partnerships, regardless of political affiliation.
- Strong, pro-active self-direction and work ethic i.e. ability to just get stuff done.
- Ability to plan, prepare for, and conduct efficient meetings with key stakeholders across civil society, academia, industry, and government.
- Strong research skills.
Preferred Experience:
- Undergraduate degree in policy, law, or a technical field related to emerging technologies or requisite / commensurate experience in the field.
- Knowledge of the technical capabilities and limitations of AI systems.
- Advanced knowledge of the policymaking process, including legislative procedure and opportunities for intervention.
- We expect strong candidates to have at least one of the following:
- Extensive existing networks related to this work.
- Experience creating partnerships with think tanks and other policy-focused organizations in DC.
- Experience developing and implementing a legislative strategy.
- Experience analyzing corporate lobbying as related to AI.
Application Deadline: Rolling applications
Location: Washington DC
Start Date: We'd like the chosen candidate to start as soon as possible after accepting an offer.
Application Process: Apply by uploading the following:
- your resume
- An answer to the question: In 250 words or less, please outline the opportunities you see for Congressional legislation to address AI risk over the next two years.
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 [email protected].
About the Future of Life Institute
Founded in 2014, FLI is an independent non-profit working to steer transformative technology towards benefiting 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:
- Superintelligence Statement, an open letter calling for a prohibition on the development of superintelligent AI until there is strong public buy-in and scientific consensus that it can be developed safely and controllably. The letter has been signed by more than 130,000 people, including Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Steve Wozniak, Richard Branson, Steve Bannon, Prince Harry and Susan Rice.
- The Asilomar AI Principles, one of the earliest and most influential sets of AI governance principles.
- The Pro-Human AI Declaration, a document with five guidelines on how AI development must be centred on humanity first, created during a meeting of bipartisan civil society groups spanning faith, labor, and think tanks.
- 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.
- AI Safety Index - an objective rating of AI companies on key safety and security domains, as judged by experts in the field.
FLI is a largely virtual organization, with a team of >30 distributed internationally, mostly in Europe and the US. We have four offices: Campbell in California, Brussels in Belgium, London in the UK, and Washington DC.
