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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.
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Our mission

Ensuring that our technology remains beneficial for life

Our mission is to steer transformative technologies away from extreme, large-scale risks and towards benefiting life.
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How certain technologies are developed and used has far-reaching consequences for all life on earth.

If properly managed, these technologies could change the world in a way that makes life substantially better, both for those alive today and those who will one day be born. They could be used to treat and eradicate diseases, strengthen democratic processes, mitigate - or even halt - climate change and restore biodiversity.

If irresponsibly managed, they could inflict serious harms on humanity and other animal species. In the most extreme cases, they could bring about the fragmentation or collapse of societies, and even push us to the brink of extinction.

The Future of Life Institute works to reduce the likelihood of these worst-case outcomes, and to help ensure that transformative technologies are used to the benefit of life.
Our mission

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.
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 work

Outreach

We produce educational materials aimed at informing public discourse, as well as encouraging people to get involved.
Our Outreach work

Grantmaking

We provide grants to individuals and organisations working on projects that further our mission.
Our Grant Programs

Events

We convene leaders of the relevant fields to discuss ways of ensuring the safe development and use of powerful technologies.
Our Events

Featured Projects

What we're working on

Read about some of our current featured projects:
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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.

MIRI February 2017 Newsletter

Following up on a post outlining some of the reasons MIRI researchers and OpenAI researcher Paul Christiano are pursuing different […]
February 17, 2017

FLI January, 2017 Newsletter

FLI January, 2017 Newsletter The Next Step to Ensuring Beneficial AI The Asilomar Beneficial AI Principles Two years ago, after […]
February 2, 2017

FLI 2016 in Review: AI Safety Research to Nuclear Weapons

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2016 Was More Successful Than Many Realize Before we start 2017, we want to take a moment […]
January 17, 2017
Read previous editions
Our content

Latest posts

The most recent posts we have published:

ICAN Wins Nobel Peace Prize

We at FLI offer an excited congratulations to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), this year’s winners of […]
October 6, 2017

A City’s Guide to Nuclear Weapons Divestment

A City’s Guide to Nuclear Weapons Divestment Invest in a Positive Future Introduction: Nuclear Weapons Today There are nearly 15,000 […]
September 29, 2017

START from the Beginning: 25 Years of US-Russian Nuclear Weapons Reductions

By Eryn MacDonald and originally posted at the Union of Concerned Scientists. For the past 25 years, a series of […]
September 29, 2017

The Future of Humanity Institute Releases Three Papers on Biorisks

Click here to see this page in other languages:  Russian  Earlier this month, the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) released […]
September 29, 2017
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Policy papers

The most recent policy papers we have published:
View all policy papers

Future of Life Institute Podcast

The most recent podcasts we have broadcast:
View all episodes

Media mentions

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