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The central hub for all of the content we have produced. Here you can browse many of our most popular content, as well as find our most recent publications.
Essentials
Essential reading
We have written a few articles that we believe all people interested in our cause areas should read. They provide a more thorough exploration than you will find on our cause area pages.
Benefits & Risks of Biotechnology
Over the past decade, progress in biotechnology has accelerated rapidly. We are poised to enter a period of dramatic change, in which the genetic modification of existing organisms -- or the creation of new ones -- will become effective, inexpensive, and pervasive.
November 14, 2018
The Risk of Nuclear Weapons
Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, humanity still has ~13,000 nuclear weapons. Some of these are hundreds of times more powerful than those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they may be able to create a decade-long nuclear winter that could kill most people on Earth. Yet the superpowers plan to invest over a trillion dollars upgrading their nuclear arsenals...
November 16, 2015
Climate Change
By 2050, the earth's population is expected to pass 9 billion. By 2100, climate models predict global temperatures will be on average 4°C warmer and sea levels will be 0.7m higher under "business as usual" conditions. The impacts of such changes have been widely studied and many will be felt within our lifetimes.
November 15, 2015
Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence
From SIRI to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly. While science fiction often portrays AI as robots with human-like characteristics, AI can encompass anything from Google's search algorithms to IBM's Watson to autonomous weapons.
November 14, 2015
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Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence
From SIRI to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly. While science fiction often portrays AI as robots with human-like characteristics, AI can encompass anything from Google's search algorithms to IBM's Watson to autonomous weapons.
November 14, 2015
Benefits & Risks of Biotechnology
Over the past decade, progress in biotechnology has accelerated rapidly. We are poised to enter a period of dramatic change, in which the genetic modification of existing organisms -- or the creation of new ones -- will become effective, inexpensive, and pervasive.
November 14, 2018
How Self-Driving Cars Use Probability
Even though human drivers don’t consciously think in terms of probabilities, we observe our environment and make decisions based on […]
March 13, 2017
90% of All the Scientists That Ever Lived Are Alive Today
Click here to see this page in other languages: German The following paper was written and submitted by Eric Gastfriend. […]
November 5, 2015
Existential Risk
Click here to see this page in other languages: Chinese French German Russian An existential risk is any risk that […]
November 16, 2015
Artificial Photosynthesis: Can We Harness the Energy of the Sun as Well as Plants?
Click here to see this page in other languages : Russian In the early 1900s, the Italian chemist Giacomo Ciamician recognized that […]
September 30, 2016
The Risk of Nuclear Weapons
Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, humanity still has ~13,000 nuclear weapons. Some of these are hundreds of times more powerful than those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they may be able to create a decade-long nuclear winter that could kill most people on Earth. Yet the superpowers plan to invest over a trillion dollars upgrading their nuclear arsenals...
November 16, 2015
55 Years After Preventing Nuclear Attack, Arkhipov Honored With Inaugural Future of Life Award
Celebrating the contributions of Vasili Arkhipov Click here to see this page in other languages: Russian London, UK - On […]
October 27, 2017
Popular resources
Our most popular resources
Here are some of the most popular resources we have produced:
1100 Declassified U.S. Nuclear Targets
The National Security Archives recently published a declassified list of U.S. nuclear targets from 1956, which spanned 1,100 locations across Eastern Europe, Russia, China, and North Korea. The map below shows all 1,100 nuclear targets from that list, and we’ve partnered with NukeMap to demonstrate how catastrophic a nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia could be.
May 12, 2016
Accidental Nuclear War: a Timeline of Close Calls
The most devastating military threat arguably comes from a nuclear war started not intentionally but by accident or miscalculation. Accidental […]
February 23, 2016
Global AI Policy
How countries and organizations around the world are approaching the benefits and risks of AI Artificial intelligence (AI) holds great […]
December 16, 2022
Responsible Nuclear Divestment
Only 30 companies worldwide are involved in the creation of nuclear weapons, cluster munitions and/or landmines. Yet a significant number […]
June 21, 2017
Trillion Dollar Nukes
Would you spend $1.2 trillion tax dollars on nuclear weapons? How much are nuclear weapons really worth? Is upgrading the […]
October 24, 2016
AI Policy Challenges
This page is intended as an introduction to the major challenges that society faces when attempting to govern Artificial Intelligence […]
July 17, 2018
COVID-19 & Catastrophic Risk
What the experts are saying The viral disease known as COVID-19 has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, devastated the […]
April 13, 2020
The Top Myths About Advanced AI
Common myths about advanced AI distract from fascinating true controversies where even the experts disagree.
August 7, 2016
Videos
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2020 Future of Life Award for saving 200 million lives from smallpox
Future of Life Institute
December 14, 2020
Articles
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Here are the most recent articles we have written:
Characterizing AI Policy using Natural Language Processing
As interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) grows across the globe, governments have focused their attention on identifying the soft and […]
December 16, 2022
An introduction to the issue of Lethal Autonomous Weapons
Some of the most advanced national military programs are beginning to implement artificial intelligence (AI) into their weapons, essentially making them 'smart'. This means these weapons will soon be making critical decisions by themselves - perhaps even deciding who lives and who dies.
November 30, 2021
10 Reasons Why Autonomous Weapons Must be Stopped
Lethal autonomous weapons pose a number of severe risks. These risks significantly outweigh any benefits they may provide, even for the world's most advanced military programs.
November 27, 2021
Real-Life Technologies that Prove Autonomous Weapons are Already Here
For years, we have seen the signs that lethal autonomous weapons were coming. Unfortunately, these weapons are no longer just 'in development' - they are starting to be used in real military applications. Slaugherbots are officially here.
November 22, 2021
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Future of Life Institute February 2023 Newsletter: Progress on Autonomous Weapons!
Welcome to the Future of Life Institute newsletter. Every month, we bring 24,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging […]
March 1, 2023
FLI November 2022 Newsletter: AI Liability Directive
Welcome to the Future of Life Institute Newsletter. Every month, we bring 24,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging technologies are transforming our […]
December 9, 2022
FLI October 2022 Newsletter: Against Reckless Nuclear Escalation
Welcome to the Future of Life Institute Newsletter. Every month, we bring 24,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging technologies […]
November 11, 2022
FLI September 2022 Newsletter: $3M Impacts of Nuclear War Grants Program!
Welcome to the FLI newsletter! Every month, we bring 24,000+ subscribers the latest news on how emerging technologies are transforming our world - for better and worse.
October 17, 2022
More previous editions
Open letters
Add your name to the list of concerned citizens
We have written a number of open letters calling for action to be taken on our cause areas, some of which have gathered hundreds of prominent signatures. Most of these letters are still open today. Add your signature to include your name on the list of concerned citizens.
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Open Letter Against Reckless Nuclear Escalation and Use
The abhorrent Ukraine war has the potential to escalate into an all-out NATO-Russia nuclear conflict that would be the greatest catastrophe in human history. More must be done to prevent such escalation.
Taylor Jones
October 18, 2022
Closed
Foresight in AI Regulation Open Letter
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) promises dramatic changes in our economic and social structures as well as everyday life […]
Anna Yelizarova
June 14, 2020
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Autonomous Weapons Open Letter: Global Health Community
Given our commitment to do no harm, the global health community has a long history of successful advocacy against inhumane weapons, and the World and American Medical Associations have called for bans on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Now, recent advances in artificial intelligence have brought us to the brink of a new arms race in lethal autonomous weapons.
admin
March 13, 2019
Closed
2018 Statement to United Nations on Behalf of LAWS Open Letter Signatories
The following statement was read on the floor of the United Nations during the August, 2018 CCW meeting, in which […]
Ariel Conn
September 4, 2018
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