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Policy work

We aim to improve AI governance over civilian applications, autonomous weapons and in nuclear launch.

Introduction

Shaping the long-term through near-term research and advocacy

The policy team at FLI works to reduce extreme, large-scale risks from transformative technologies by improving national and international governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

FLI has spearheaded numerous efforts to this end. Most notably, in 2017 we created the influential Asilomar AI principles, a set of governance principles signed by thousands of leading minds in AI research and industry. More recently, the UN Secretary General consulted FLI as the civil society ‘co-champion’ for AI recommendations on the Digital Cooperation Roadmap.

In the civilian domain, we advise the European Union on how to strengthen and future-proof their upcoming EU AI Act; and in the U.S., we focus on increasing federal spending on AI safety research and strengthening the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. In the military domain, we advocate for a treaty on autonomous weapons at the United Nations and inform policymakers about the risks of incorporating AI systems into nuclear launch.
Our work

Policy projects

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.

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.

Strengthening the NIST AI Risk Management Framework

Our feedback on the first draft of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) AI risk management framework addressed extreme and unacceptable risks, loyalty of AI systems and the risk management of general purpose systems.

Mitigating the Risks of AI Integration in Nuclear Launch

Avoiding nuclear war is in the national security interest of all nations. We pursue a range of initiatives to reduce this risk. Our current focus is on mitigating the emerging risk of AI integration into nuclear command, control and communication.
Our content

Latest policy papers

Policymaking In The Pause

April 2023

Statement Regarding the Release of NIST's AI RMF

January 2023

FLI Position Paper on AI Liability

November 2022

Emerging Non-European Monopolies in the Global AI Market

November 2022

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Geographical Focus

Where you can find us

We are a hybrid organisation. Most of our policy work takes place in the US (D.C. and California), the EU (Brussels) and at the UN (New York and Geneva).

United States

In the US, FLI works to increase federal spending on AI safety research and to strengthen the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.

European Union

In Europe, our focus is on strengthening the EU AI Act and encouraging European states to support a treaty on autonomous weapons.

United Nations

At the UN, FLI works to promote the adoption of a legally-binding instrument on autonomous weapons.
Key partners

Achievements

Some of the things we have achieved

Developed the AI Asilomar Principles

In 2017, FLI coordinated the development of the Asilomar AI Principles, one of the earliest and most influential sets of AI governance principles.
View the principles

AI recommendation in the UN digital cooperation roadmap

Our recommendations (3C) on the global governance of AI technologies were adopted in the UN Secretary-General's digital cooperation roadmap.
View the roadmap

Max Tegmark's testimony to the EU parliament

Our founder and board member Max Tegmark presented a testimony on the regulation of general-purpose AI systems in the EU parliament.
Watch the testimony
Our content

Featured posts

Here is a selection of posts relating to our policy work:

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

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