Future of Life Institute (FLI)

We are an independent nonprofit organization founded in 2014. Our goal is to reduce extreme, large-scale risks from transformative technologies and guide their development to benefit humanity. We primarily work through grantmaking, educational outreach, and policy advocacy with governments and institutions such as the U.S. government, European Union, and United Nations. We also host conferences and contests.

Our focus areas include artificial intelligence, biotechnology, nuclear technology, and climate change. For instance, we developed the Asilomar AI Principles, a set of governance guidelines for AI.

Our initiatives involve creating international AI governance frameworks and providing policy recommendations on topics like AI loss-of-control, bias, and job displacement. We also analyze the convergence of AI with biological, nuclear, and cyber technologies. Additional projects explore AI’s impact on economic and power structures, support positive future narratives for technology, and integrate traditional religious perspectives into AI discussions.

Through our communications, we publish studies on AI agent power dynamics and support digital content creators raising awareness about AI issues. Our grantmaking efforts foster an AI Existential Safety Community, offer PhD and Postdoctoral fellowships in Technical AI Existential Safety and US-China AI Governance, and fund projects through RFPs and collaborative grants.

Our mission is to guide transformative technology away from extreme, large-scale risks and towards benefiting humanity. We believe that how powerful technology is developed and used will largely determine the future of life, and we aim to ensure technology improves these prospects.

We have a full-time staff of over 20 team members, plus our Board and external advisors. Our team is globally distributed, with offices in Campbell (California), Washington D.C., Brussels (Belgium), and London (UK). Most roles offer remote work options. Our team brings diverse expertise, including machine learning, medicine, behavioral sciences, engineering, law, and design, with backgrounds in academia, government, and industry.

Our culture centers on our mission, with everyone committed to safeguarding and improving the future of life. We encourage creative and operational autonomy, allowing individuals or sub-teams to develop and pursue projects while staying aligned with our overall goals. We focus on turning ideas into concrete results. Our recruitment process typically includes an application, one or two paid work tests, panel interviews with staff, and reference checks.

For our US employees, we offer:

• Competitive salaries
• 4 months of fully paid parental leave
• A work-from-home allowance for equipment and office supplies
• A learning and development allowance
• 24 or more days of paid time off per year
• 401k pension matching
• Health insurance