Our content
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.
14 November, 2018
The Risk of Nuclear Weapons
Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, humanity still has ~13,000 nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. If detonated, they may cause a decades-long nuclear winter that could kill most people on Earth. Yet the superpowers plan to invest trillions upgrading their nuclear arsenals.
16 November, 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.
14 November, 2015
Archives
Explore our library of content
Most popular
Our most popular content
Posts
Our most popular posts:
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.
14 November, 2015
Exploration of secure hardware solutions for safe AI deployment
This collaboration between the Future of Life Institute and Mithril Security explores hardware-backed AI governance tools for transparency, traceability, and confidentiality.
30 November, 2023
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.
14 November, 2018
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. […]
5 November, 2015
Existential Risk
Click here to see this page in other languages: Chinese French German Russian An existential risk is any risk that […]
16 November, 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 […]
30 September, 2016
The Risk of Nuclear Weapons
Despite the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, humanity still has ~13,000 nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. If detonated, they may cause a decades-long nuclear winter that could kill most people on Earth. Yet the superpowers plan to invest trillions upgrading their nuclear arsenals.
16 November, 2015
How Do We Align Artificial Intelligence with Human Values?
Click here to see this page in other languages: Chinese German Japanese Russian A major change is coming, over unknown timescales […]
3 February, 2017
Resources
Our most popular resources:
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.
12 May, 2016
Responsible Nuclear Divestment
Only 30 companies worldwide are involved in the creation of nuclear weapons, cluster munitions and/or landmines. Yet a significant number […]
21 June, 2017
Global AI Policy
How countries and organizations around the world are approaching the benefits and risks of AI Artificial intelligence (AI) holds great […]
16 December, 2022
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 […]
23 February, 2016
Trillion Dollar Nukes
Would you spend $1.2 trillion tax dollars on nuclear weapons? How much are nuclear weapons really worth? Is upgrading the […]
24 October, 2016
Life 3.0
This New York Times bestseller tackles some of the biggest questions raised by the advent of artificial intelligence. Tegmark posits a future in which artificial intelligence has surpassed our own — an era he terms “life 3.0” — and explores what this might mean for humankind.
22 November, 2021
The Top Myths About Advanced AI
Common myths about advanced AI distract from fascinating true controversies where even the experts disagree.
7 August, 2016
AI Policy Challenges
This page is intended as an introduction to the major challenges that society faces when attempting to govern Artificial Intelligence […]
17 July, 2018
Recently added
Our most recent content
Here are the most recent items of content that we have published:
9 May, 2025
Understanding AI Agents: Time Horizons, Sycophancy, and Future Risks (with Zvi Mowshowitz)
podcast
9 May, 2025
podcast
1 May, 2025
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: Where are the safety teams?
newsletter
1 May, 2025
newsletter
25 April, 2025
Inside China’s AI Strategy: Innovation, Diffusion, and US Relations (with Jeffrey Ding)
podcast
25 April, 2025
podcast
View all latest content
Latest documents
Here are our most recent policy papers:
Staffer’s Guide to AI Policy: Congressional Committees and Relevant Legislation
March 2025
Recommendations for the U.S. AI Action Plan
March 2025
Safety Standards Delivering Controllable and Beneficial AI Tools
February 2025
Framework for Responsible Use of AI in the Nuclear Domain
February 2025
View all policy papers
Videos
Latest videos
Here are some of our recent videos:
How two films saved the world from nuclear war
13 November, 2023
Regulate AI Now
28 September, 2023
The AI Pause. What’s Next?
22 September, 2023
Artificial Escalation
17 July, 2023
Our YouTube channel
Future of Life Institute Podcast
Conversations with far-sighted thinkers.
Our namesake podcast series features the FLI team in conversation with prominent researchers, policy experts, philosophers, and a range of other influential thinkers.
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: Where are the safety teams?
Plus: Online course on worldbuilding for positive futures with AI; new publications about AI; our Digital Media Accelerator; and more.
Maggie Munro
1 May, 2025
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: Recommendations for the AI Action Plan
Plus: FLI Executive Director's new essay on keeping the future human; "Slaughterbots: A treaty on the horizon"; apply to our new Digital Media Accelerator; and more!
Maggie Munro
31 March, 2025
Future of Life Institute Newsletter: Meet PERCEY
Introducing our new AI awareness companion; notes from the AI Action Summit and IASEAI; a new short film on AI replacing human labour; and more!
Maggie Munro
5 March, 2025
Read 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.
2672
Open letter calling on world leaders to show long-view leadership on existential threats
The Elders, Future of Life Institute and a diverse range of co-signatories call on decision-makers to urgently address the ongoing impact and escalating risks of the climate crisis, pandemics, nuclear weapons, and ungoverned AI.
14 February, 2024
Closed
AI Licensing for a Better Future: On Addressing Both Present Harms and Emerging Threats
This joint open letter by Encode Justice and the Future of Life Institute calls for the implementation of three concrete US policies in order to address current and future harms of AI.
25 October, 2023
31810
Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.
22 March, 2023
998
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.
18 October, 2022
All open letters