Our mission
Steering transformative technology towards benefitting life and away from extreme large-scale risks.
We believe that the way powerful technology is developed and used will be the most important factor in determining the prospects for the future of life. This is why we have made it our mission to ensure that technology continues to improve those prospects.
Recent updates
Happening now
California's Landmark AI Safety Bill, which aims to protect the public while safeguarding innovation, has passed the legislature with strong support from voters, lawmakers, and experts. Will Governor Newsom sign? Here's a quick video explainer and answers to FAQs.
Cause areas
The risks we focus on
We are currently concerned by three major risks. They all hinge on the development, use and governance of transformative technologies. We focus our efforts on guiding the impacts of these technologies.
Artificial Intelligence
From recommender algorithms to chatbots to self-driving cars, AI is changing our lives. As the impact of this technology grows, so will the risks.
Artificial Intelligence
Biotechnology
From the accidental release of engineered pathogens to the backfiring of a gene-editing experiment, the dangers from biotechnology are too great for us to proceed blindly.
Biotechnology
Nuclear Weapons
Almost eighty years after their introduction, the risks posed by nuclear weapons are as high as ever - and new research reveals that the impacts are even worse than previously reckoned.
Nuclear Weapons
UAV Kargu autonomous drones at the campus of OSTIM Technopark in Ankara, Turkey - June 2020.
Our work
How we are addressing these issues
There are many potential levers of change for steering the development and use of transformative technologies. We target a range of these levers to increase our chances of success.
Policy
We perform policy advocacy in the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations.
Our Policy workOutreach
We produce educational materials aimed at informing public discourse, as well as encouraging people to get involved.
Our Outreach workGrantmaking
We provide grants to individuals and organisations working on projects that further our mission.
Our Grant ProgramsEvents
We convene leaders of the relevant fields to discuss ways of ensuring the safe development and use of powerful technologies.
Our EventsFeatured Projects
What we're working on
Read about some of our current featured projects:
Combatting Deepfakes
2024 is rapidly turning into the Year of Fake. As part of a growing coalition of concerned organizations, FLI is calling on lawmakers to take meaningful steps to disrupt the AI-driven deepfake supply chain.
Superintelligence Imagined Creative Contest
A contest for the best creative educational materials on superintelligence, its associated risks, and the implications of this technology for our world. 5 prizes at $10,000 each.
Perspectives of Traditional Religions on Positive AI Futures
Most of the global population participates in a traditional religion. Yet the perspectives of these religions are largely absent from strategic AI discussions. This initiative aims to support religious groups to voice their faith-specific concerns and hopes for a world with AI, and work with them to resist the harms and realise the benefits.
The Elders Letter on Existential Threats
The Elders, the Future of Life Institute and a diverse range of preeminent public figures are calling on world leaders to urgently address the ongoing harms and escalating risks of the climate crisis, pandemics, nuclear weapons, and ungoverned AI.
Realising Aspirational Futures – New FLI Grants Opportunities
We are opening two new funding opportunities to support research into the ways that artificial intelligence can be harnessed safely to make the world a better place.
AI Convergence: Risks at the Intersection of AI and Nuclear, Biological and Cyber Threats
The dual-use nature of AI systems can amplify the dual-use nature of other technologies—this is known as AI convergence. We provide policy expertise to policymakers in the United States in three key convergence areas: biological, nuclear, and cyber.
Strengthening the European AI Act
Our key recommendations include broadening the Act’s scope to regulate general purpose systems and extending the definition of prohibited manipulation to include any type of manipulatory technique, and manipulation that causes societal harm.
Educating about Lethal Autonomous Weapons
Military AI applications are rapidly expanding. We develop educational materials about how certain narrow classes of AI-powered weapons can harm national security and destabilize civilization, notably weapons where kill decisions are fully delegated to algorithms.
Global AI governance at the UN
Our involvement with the UN's work spans several years and initiatives, including the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and the Global Digital Compact (GDC).
Worldbuilding Competition
The Future of Life Institute accepted entries from teams across the globe, to compete for a prize purse of up to $100,000 by designing visions of a plausible, aspirational future that includes strong artificial intelligence.
Future of Life Award
Every year, the Future of Life Award is given to one or more unsung heroes who have made a significant contribution to preserving the future of life.
View all projects
newsletter
Regular updates about the technologies shaping our world
Every month, we bring 41,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging technologies are transforming our world. It includes a summary of major developments in our cause areas, and key updates on the work we do. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive these highlights at the end of each month.
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: On SB 1047, Gov. Newsom Caves to Big Tech
A disappointing outcome for the AI safety bill, updates from UNGA, our $1.5 million grant for global risk convergence research, and more.
Maggie Munro
1 October, 2024
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: California’s AI Safety Bill Heads to Governor’s Desk
Latest policymaking updates, OpenAI safety team reportedly halved, moving towards an AWS treaty, and more.
Maggie Munro
30 August, 2024
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: New $4 million grants program!
Mitigating AI-driven power concentration, Pindex and FLI collaboration, announcing our newest grantees and their projects, and more.
Maggie Munro
1 August, 2024
Read previous editions
Our content
Latest posts
The most recent posts we have published:
US House of Representatives call for legal liability on Deepfakes
Recent statements from the US House of Representatives are a reminder of the urgent threat deepfakes present to our society, especially as we approach the U.S. presidential election.
1 October, 2024
Statement on the veto of California bill SB 1047
“The furious lobbying against the bill can only be reasonably interpreted in one way: these companies believe they should play by their own rules and be accountable to no one. This veto only reinforces that belief. Now is the time for legislation at the state, federal, and global levels to hold Big Tech to their commitments”
30 September, 2024
Panda vs. Eagle
FLI's Director of Policy on why the U.S. national interest is much better served by a cooperative than an adversarial strategy towards China.
27 September, 2024
The Future and the Artificial: An Islamic Perspective
"A positive future for a world with AI from an Islamic perspective is one in which the option to say no to the integration of AI in infrastructures, devices, products, services, institutions, and elsewhere, is preserved at individual and collective levels"
26 September, 2024
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Policy papers
The most recent policy papers we have published:
Turning Vision into Action: Implementing the Senate AI Roadmap
June 2024
Recommended Amendments to Legislative Proposals on Deepfakes
May 2024
FLI Response to OMB: Request for Information on Responsible Procurement of Artificial Intelligence in Government
April 2024
Competition in Generative AI: Future of Life Institute’s Feedback to the European Commission’s Consultation
March 2024
View all policy papers
Future of Life Institute Podcast
The most recent podcasts we have broadcast:
View all episodes
