AI Safety Research Scientist (ML focus)

LawZero; Montreal; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A non-profit research organization in Montreal seeks an AI Safety Researcher with a focus on machine learning. In this role, you will clarify key AI safety questions, analyze solutions, and design ML experiments to address complex safety issues. The ideal candidate possesses a PhD or equivalent experience, and expertise in AI safety and relevant ML frameworks. This position offers a collaborative and inclusive environment with opportunities to significantly impact AI safety research.

Benefits

20 days vacation per year

Retirement savings employer contribution of 4%

Generous flexible benefits

Collaborative work environment

Qualifications

• Research experience in technical AI safety, ideally with focus on AGI safety.
• Experience proposing, designing and running ML experiments.

Responsibilities

• Clarify AI safety research questions for the Scientist AI agenda.
• Analyze proposed solutions and develop novel solution ideas.
• Design and implement novel ML algorithms and experiments.

Skills

AI safety research

Machine learning

Collaboration

Communication of complex findings

Education

PhD in relevant field

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Job description

We are seeking an AI Safety Researcher with an ML focus, to join our team working on the Scientist AI agenda. In this role, you will contribute to our plan using your expertise in AI safety and your knowledge and experience of machine learning.

Key responsibilities

• Help clarify which AI safety research questions are central to the Scientist AI agenda.
• Analyze proposed solutions to these research questions and develop novel solution ideas.
• Propose, design, and implement novel ML algorithms and experiments aimed at solving or testing complex AI safety problems.
• Scrutinize the Scientist AI agenda and its fit into a bigger strategic picture for mitigating AI risk, in order to guide and prioritize experiments to answer critical safety questions efficiently.

Required skills and qualifications

• PhD in a relevant field is preferred but not required if the candidate demonstrates exceptional abilities or equivalent experience.
• Research experience in technical AI safety, ideally with a focus on AGI safety.
• Experience proposing, designing and running ML experiments.
• Proficiency with ML frameworks such as PyTorch or Tensorflow.
• Excitement to contribute to and shape the Scientist AI agenda.
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment and contribute to collective research goals.
• Ability to discuss complex findings with team members from diverse technical backgrounds.

Preferred skills and qualifications

• Experience in some of the following AI safety research areas: agent foundations, AI control, frontier AI safety, eliciting latent knowledge, externalised reasoning, ambitious alignment schemes.
• Machine learning research publications in top-tier venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, etc.).
• Experience fine tuning and post training language models.

What we offer

• The opportunity to contribute to a unique mission with a major impact
• A minimum of 20 days vacation per year upon start
• A minimum retirement savings employer contribution of 4%
• Generous flexible benefits designed to contribute to your well-being
• A team of passionate experts in their field
• A collaborative and inclusive work environment with offices in the heart of Little Italy, in the trendy Mile-Ex district, close to public transportation

About LawZero

LawZero is a non-profit organization committed to advancing research and creating technical solutions that enable safe-by-design AI systems. Its scientific direction is based on new research and methods proposed by Professor Yoshua Bengio, the most cited AI researcher in the world. Based in Montreal, LawZero’s research aims to build non-agentic AI that learns primarily to understand the world rather than to act in it, giving truthful answers to questions based on transparent and externalized probabilistic reasoning. Such AI systems could be used to accelerate scientific discovery, to provide oversight for agentic AI systems, and to advance the understanding of AI risks and how to avoid them. LawZero believes that AI should be cultivated as a global public good—developed and used safely towards human flourishing. For more information, visit www.lawzero.org

You belong here

At LawZero, diversity is important to us. We value a work environment that is fair, open and respectful of differences. We welcome applications from highly qualified individuals interested in working towards our mission in a respectful, inclusive and collaborative setting.

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